A blind date
by ifonlyyouknowit
Summary: Callie was feeling lonely, so her so-called best friend arranged a blind date for her to unwind. However, the object of the date wasn't what she expected.
1. Blind date

Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the names of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.

A/N : I read a story from somewhere about two straight women went on a blind date and I was like, oh it would be fun if it was Callie and Arizona. So, I stole the idea and adopted it to this little story. Hope you like it.

Super thanks to my dearest friend calzonaforever35 for helping with this. You are always the best, girlie.

* * *

Callie felt like crap. Just like every other day,

she was sitting alone in the pub across the street, nursing a glass of rum and coke with a shot glass of tequila next to it.

"Feeling sorry for yourself again?" A voice came up next to her, the brunette took a sidelong glance to the smirking man before picking up the tequila, and finishing it with a gulp.

"I thought you were going out with... what's her name? Your hussy of the week?"

"Teddy is not a hussy. She's a surgeon at Mercy West. She's a cardio surgeon." Mark raised two fingers, gesturing the bartender to give him the usual. "She had an emergency surgery."

"Whatever." Callie shrugged, and tapped her finger next the shot glass, ordering herself another shot of tequila.

"Are you ok? It's not even dinner time and you're already drinking tequila like water." The man asked with concern. It wasn't unusual to see his friend drinking like a fish, but tonight just seemed extreme.

"Yang told me George and Stevens broke up." Callie took a sip of the rum and coke to wash down the tequila. She'd been doing this for a whole hour already.

"It was 2 years ago. You're still pining over that O'Malley guy?" Mark frowned. He still had no idea why Callie was so crazy about that loser. George O'Malley wasn't handsome or smart, and he absolutely had no money. In Mark's opinion, those were the factors to make a woman crazy for a man.

"It was a year and a half." Callie glared at Mark from the corner of her eyes. "And no, I'm not pining over him. I'm just... bitter, ok? She made George break up with me because she didn't like me. All of a sudden she wanted him so badly that she threw herself at him and said some bullshit like they were meant to be soulmates or something. That bitch is like a child who only wants the toys when it's in someone else's hand. She tricked George to move to Portland with her. And now, she doesn't want him anymore because no one is contending with her."

"If you are not pining over him, why are you so upset?" Mark snorted. Of course he didn't believe it. Since that time Callie cried in front of him, telling him that she suspected her boyfriend for half year was cheating on her, he had never seen a truthful smile on Callie's face again.

"I'm upset for mankind." Callie held up the tequila shot toward her friend. "You and all men, the shallow, think with the penis men; Always look for those model like bimbos, not caring how brainless they are behind those pretty faces."

"Don't be ridiculous. Not every man is mindless like that. We like hot women too. I always say you're smokin' hot." Mark raised his hand, using the back of it brushing the caramel cheek teasingly. But Callie flung it off.

"Yeah right. Do I have to remind you that your hussy of the week is a tall, skinny blonde?"

"Hey, I told you. My door is always open for you if you're hungry for... appreciation from a man." Mark was just half joking. He wouldn't mind to help Callie out if she wanted to have a night of monkey sex just to clear her mind. But the woman just snorted at him.

"Thank you very much, but I'll pass." Callie was about to bring the shot glass to her lips, but some giggles coming from the entrance caught her attention. Turning toward the sound, there were two women entering the pub arm in arm; and the way they smiled to each other, no doubt they were more than just best friends.

"Why can't I have that?" The brunette said with a pout, eyes followed the couple to the corner of the pub. Her brown eyes started to blur from the self-pity tears when the two women shared a kiss after sitting down by a table.

"What? You wanna kiss a girl?" The man cocked an eyebrow. "Good for you. I bet it would be hot as hell."

"No, you pig." Callie wiped her eyes by her palm roughly. "Why can't I get someone to look at me like that? Like I'm the most important person in the world? Why can't men be more sensitive, knowing that when a woman says she loves you really means she loves you, not just to get into your pants?"

"Don't worry, Callie." Mark put a hand on the slumped shoulder next to him, rubbing in circles to offer some sort of comfort. "There has to be someone out there that is meant for you, you know? All you need to do is to pick yourself up. Stop binge drinking in a pub until your liver fails. Go on a decent date, go out, have a nice evening and you'll forget about that O'Malley creep."

"Right, go on a date." Callie laughed sarcastically. "Where can I meet this date? At the hospital? Do I have to remind you that I met George there?"

"I can fix you up with one of my friends." The man shrugged, he already had some names in mind since most of his friends were drooling all over this hot Latina co-worker of his.

"Your perverted friends who always stare at my boobs liked I'm a piece of meat? Thank you but no thank you." Callie rolled her eyes. That idea didn't interest her at all.

"Fine." Mark smirked. Yeah, he remembered the last time two of his buddies went to visit him in the hospital during lunch, and they lost interest in him the second Callie came to join them at the table. "Maybe I can ask Teddy to hook you up with someone from her circle. Mercy West people are not as cool as us, but Teddy said they're not all losers."

"Once again, thank you but no thank you." Callie turned back to stare at the happy couple one more time before finishing another glass of tequila. "Men suck. I'm telling you, no more men. I'm just tired of all their bullshit."

"What? You wanna get yourself a lady lover?" Mark followed her sight, and his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets when the two women were sucking faces like no one else's business.

"No, I'm prepared to grow old alone, living with dozens of cats, and let them eat my body after I die..." Callie turned back around to her drinks, and rolled her eyes again after seeing the man was drooling over the girl on girl action. "And no one cares enough to notice it."

"You are not going to die alone..." Mark shifted his attention back to his devastated friend, only to find that the brunette was already out of the chair and walking toward the door, waving goodbye behind her shoulder.

* * *

2 weeks after Callie "swore off" men.

"Hey Mark, glad you are here." Callie rubbed her tired face with both hands, approaching her best friend who was standing by the nurse's station. "I was about to call you. I just finished another 36 hours shift and I have the next 2 days off. Wanna meet me at Joe's tonight after my power nap?"

"Oh, I have plans with Teddy tonight." Mark smiled timidly. He hated to abandon his friend but he was not the kind of guy turned down a chance to have sex.

"What about bros before hoes? Those were your words." Callie whined. She was so looking forward to relax herself with some much needed alcohol, preferable not alone.

"I'm sorry. Have you asked Yang? She won't pass on a chance to swim in tequila." Mark asked.

"Double date with Meredith and Derek." The brunette twisted her lips with annoyance. "I hate it. Everyone is happy, everyone is with someone. I'm not even 40 and I already feel like the loneliest person in the world. I should start to collect the cats, or get a dog. At least I don't have to dine alone, or sit alone at home."

"Come on, let me fix you up with the date we talked about?" Since that night at Joe's, Mark took every chance he got to suggest Callie to go on a date with Teddy's friend. But Callie shut him off every time. "I can call Teddy to arrange it tonight. Then you don't have to take a dog to the restaurant, or Joe's."

"No Mark, for the hundredth time, NO. Stop trying to push me on to that guy. I am not that pathetic that needs my friend's girlfriend to set me up with a blind date." The brunette screwed her face with distaste. She was about to turn to leave, but Mark held her arm to stop her.

"First of all, she is not my girlfriend. We are not there yet. Secondly, don't see that as a date, just two people going to have dinner together." Mark ducked his head to gaze into the brown eyes with pure concern. "Make a new friend and you don't have to spend your free evening alone."

"Who is this guy? A friend of Teddy's?" Callie pursed her lips.

"Well... not just a friend, best friend actually. I've heard so much about this best friend of hers. Also a surgeon, a PEDS fellow." The plastic surgeon dropped his hand from Callie's arm, rubbed it behind his neck looking kind of nervous.

"PEDS? Guys working in PEDS either extra sensitive or a jerk that doesn't care about the crying child. How old is he?" The brunette squinted at her friend. Not that she was interested in going on a date, but Mark was right. Going out with someone was much better than spending the night alone, again.

"About your age." Mark kept the answer short.

"Why is he still single?" Callie asked again, but Mark raised his voice to stop her.

"What? Are we playing 20 questions here? Leave the questions for your date tonight. You can ask all those questions yourself."

"I am not saying I want to..." The brunette looked around, trying to act as nonchalant as she could, but Mark knew he got her.

"Yes, you are. Don't argue with me. I won't be able to enjoy the evening knowing you are sitting somewhere alone, again. Do this for me, ok?"

"If you say it that way, I don't have much choice, do I?" Callie cast a wry glance to the tall man, but a ghost smile on her lips betrayed her.

"Great! Now you go home to get some rest, I'll text you the time and place later today." Mark pushed Callie toward the elevator, as his hand already pulled the cellphone out, getting ready to call his lady friend.

Not even before Callie finished her shower, the mobile buzzed signaling an incoming message. Mark already set up the date for her with someone named Robbins, at Mark's favorite Italian restaurant a few blocks away from their apartments.

"How eager is this Robbins? Agreed to go on a blind date at such a short notice?" The brunette asked herself. Glancing at the clock, the date was in 8 hours. She got enough time to take a nap and make herself presentable for this PEDS guy.

* * *

"Hi," Callie walked up to the receptionist standing outside of that fancy Italian restaurant. "Sloan made a reservation for me and my dinning companion at 7."

"Right, Marky's table." The redheaded beauty pulled up her overly bright smile. "Marky told us to save the best table for you. You're Miss Torres, right? Your friend is already here."

"Really?" Callie glanced at her watch, it was 5 minutes before 7 and the guy was already here. She felt better about this date already.

Following the receptionist entering the dining area, the brunette glanced around the place. It was a romantic restaurant for couples. She never came here because she had no one in her life to come to such a place with her. Flickering candle lights under the dim lights, soft music playing in the background, smell of fresh baked breads floating in the air... Mark made a good choice. She decided to enjoy this evening even if the PEDS guy was really a jerk, or boring as dish water.

But she didn't expect this.

The receptionist led her to a table by the large window. Sitting there, was a small frame blonde haired woman looking out of the window drinking in the starry sky of Seattle night.

Callie froze when that woman turned to face her, gazing at her with the most sparkling blue eyes. She was very beautiful but she was a woman.

"Miss Torres, this is your table." The receptionist pulled a chair for the stunned brunette. Callie felt herself blush, sitting down on the chair clumsily. "Should I get you a glass of wine?"

"Oh yes, please." She noticed there was a glass of white wine already on the table. "Give me a glass of white as well."

"Right away. Enjoy your evening, ladies." The redhead answered with a smile to the two women on the table. Callie swallowed visually. Ok, it wasn't her illusion, there was a woman sitting across the table.

"Hi Callie." The pretty blonde said softly, bringing Callie's eyes from the plate setting on the table to her face. "I'm Arizona, Robbins."

"I- uh... Callie Torres."

"Nice to meet you, Callie Torres." Arizona reached her right hand, the brunette took it for a hand shake. "Teddy told me you're an ortho surgeon. I have to say, your hand is softer than I expected."

"I know!" Callie breathed a sigh of relief, her face spread to a beaming smile. "It must be a misunderstanding or a joke from our so-call friends, right? I'm expecting a PEDS guy, and you're supposed to meet a strong hand male ortho surgeon."

"What do you mean?" Arizona chuckled with a half smile.

"Mark the idiot must've forgotten to mention I'm a woman, and he didn't clear it with Teddy that you're going on a date with me." Callie shook her head lightly. The waitress came with her glass, she snatched it immediately, not even waiting till it hit the table. "Thank you. I really needed it."

"I am in PEDS. And I KNOW I'm here to meet with Callie Torres the ortho surgeon." Arizona said in blank astonishment. "I know Callie is not a name for a man."

Callie choked on the wine. She coughed so hard that her face turned to bright red, maybe not fully because of the choking.

"Oh my god! You didn't know you are here on a date with a woman." Arizona rose from her seat, using her napkin trying to help Callie to clean up the mess on her dress. "This is so embarrassing. I've been on dates with straight women, but at least they knew what they got themselves into."

"It's fine. It's fine." Callie waved her hand, and leaned back to extend the distance between her and the blonde's hand. They both sat in their seats with a very uncomfortable silence between them.

"I'm so going to kill Mark for this. I even shaved my legs for tonight." Callie huffed under her breath.

"I am so sorry that you got misled. If I'd known it, I would have never agreed to come here." The blonde looked out to the window again. She was a little pissed at her friend for forcing her to come on this date with someone who apparently had no interest in going out with a lesbian.

"I'm sorry." Callie said sincerely. "I just... didn't expect this. Mark didn't really tell me you were a guy, I just assumed..."

"It's fine, really." Arizona forced a smile. "Maybe, we should call it the night?"

"I am sorry." The brunette apologized again. "I'll ask for the bill. The least I can do is buy you this drink."

Callie waved her hand to beckon their waitress. The girl came with a smile to the two women.

"Are you ready to order?"

"Um... no. Can we have the bill, please?" Callie gave a polite smile to the girl.

"Ok, please wait a minute, Miss Torres."

The waitress bolted toward the cashier, silence floating between the women again. Callie felt like she should make some small talk during the wait.

"So, you have a backup plan for tonight? I mean, in case this one didn't work out." Callie laughed uneasily from her own words. "Well, it didn't work out, apparently."

"Nope, it was quite hectic at work in the last week. I didn't really have a break for days. If it wasn't for Teddy saying that I should go out, have a nice evening with someone, I'd be at home watching TV and drink myself to sleep." Arizona held up her glass of wine, and smiled at Callie before bottoming up the remaining wine.

"Well, same here. I just finished a 36 hours shift." Callie was about to continue, the redhead receptionist approached their table.

"Miss Torres, what can I do for you?"

"We would like to have the bill, thanks." The brunette forced a smile again. She didn't know why it took two people to bring her the check.

"Is everything ok? I mean, is there something wrong with the service? Or you don't like this table? We can arrange another one for you." The redhead asked nervously. She was worried if there was something they did wrong to drive the customers away just a few minutes after they arrived.

"No, everything is perfect. We just want to leave." Callie looked over the Arizona, who nodded her head with a tight smile.

"I see." The redhead trailed off. "But what should we tell Marky?"

"Just tell him he's no longer my friend." Callie joked, but the color drained from the redhead's face telling her that she didn't know the brunette was kidding. "I'm joking. Just tell him we changed our mind. Really, everything is good. Just give us our bill will be all right."

"I see." The receptionist nodded slowly. "There's no bill. Marky is going to pick up your check. He said he wants you ladies to have a good meal tonight."

"Mark said that? He's paying for the dinner?" Callie raised her eyebrows up to her forehead. She had an idea why Mark would want to do that.

"Yes, he said we can just put this in his tab."

Callie shifted her gaze to the blonde sitting in front of her. A sly smile appeared on her face slowly. She told the redhead to excuse them for a minute.

"Well Arizona, I think Mark had predicted that I'd stormed out after finding out he set me up with you. That's why he said he'd picked up this bill. Since the both of us don't have anything else to do tonight. How about we take the advantage of my idiot friend, and have a pleasant evening as two new friends dining together in this overpriced restaurant?"

"I like the sound of it." Arizona returned with a dimpled smile. She also thought this friend of Callie's should pay, literally.

Callie raised her hand, the redhead rushed to their table in a second.

"We changed our mind again because we both are suddenly very hungry." Callie smiled to the woman polity. "Does Mark set a limit on our bill?"

"He didn't." The receptionist returned with a professional smile. "He just said he wants you ladies to have a lovely evening."

"Great. We would like to start with a bottle of your most expensive white wine, and keep it coming." Callie picked up the menu scanning the dishes quickly. She leaned forward Arizona and pointed to the most expensive ones, who nodded with agreement. "We'll take these two as our entrees... oh and these two as well because we are so very hungry. And for the main course, we don't know... but judges by the prices, these two must be good, we'll take those."

"Good choice, the lobster is our most delicious dish. The meat would melt in your mouth like butter." The receptionist wrote down the order rapidly.

"Yeah? Then for the main course, we'll both take the lobster." Arizona looked over to Callie, who nodded with a smile.

"Great. And we actually have a bottle of white that goes perfectly with the lobster..." The woman attempted to give her suggestion, but Callie stopped her.

"Is that the most expensive one?"

"Nope, but..."

"We'll stick with the expensive bottle." Arizona answered for Callie.

The receptionist was bewildered, but she took the order willingly. After all, they won't argue with the customers when they chose to spend big money in there.

"This Mark guy, he has an open tab here?" Arizona leaned forward, and whispered to her new friend after the redhead took off.

"Mark likes to bring his hook ups to here. He told me the hussies were always impressed when they could just get up and leave after the romantic dinner in here. That increased his chance to get those women to follow him home without a fight." Callie smirked. She picked up her glass of wine about to take a sip, but put it down instantly. "I should save it for the good wine, don't wanna ruin my palate for the expensive one."

"Hussies?" The blonde asked with an amused smile.

"That manwhore collects hussies... Oh my god, your friend is dating him." Callie covered her mouth with a hand, looked incredibly abash. "That's crass. I am so sorry."

"Well, I don't think I can still call her my friend after tonight. But hussy was about right. She told me Mark is a candy bar, she was gonna eat it and forget about it. I was surprised that they lasted for more than 3 weeks." Arizona gave the brunette a heartfelt smile. She found this woman sitting in front of her not just gorgeous, but endearing. Too bad that Callie was not interested in women, but that didn't mean they can be friends.

"I was surprised too. I think it has something to do with both of them are so busy, they don't really have much time to start to hate each other yet." Callie laughed out. Her contagious laughter induced a chuckle from the blonde.

"That's the story of any surgeon." Arizona winked.

Once the embarrassment of being on a date with someone unexpected subsided, the women started to enjoy each other's company.

* * *

"You are absolutely right about the PEDS guys. For instance, my boss is a total jerk." Arizona wriggled her eyebrows before sipping her wine. The 60 bucks a bottle wine tasted absolutely divine. "All he cares about is being clocked out on time, and he tends to pass me the difficult cases, saying that I need more 'experience'."

"Sounds awful." Callie propped her head up by the elbow, gazing at the woman. "Why don't you leave that place? I'm sure you can find a better job somewhere else."

"Don't get me wrong, I love my job." The blonde smiled lovingly. "I love the difficult cases, especially after I saved the tiny human successfully."

"Tiny human?" Callie raised her eyebrows in amazed.

"Because they are tiny, and they are human." Arizona threw her head back letting out a series of angelic laugher. "Besides, Stark's contract is up in a year. I think the chief is going to can him. He knows I'm the one running the department."

"You're optimistic." Callie smiled. She found herself drawn to this woman's cheerful, perky personality, and her dimpled smile.

"Why not? At the end of the day you're in charge of who you are in the world, nobody else. And if you have a bad day, you can choose to have a good one." The blonde hair beauty ran her finger around the rim of her glass. "Look at us. We could choose to leave, go back to our empty apartments and feel sorry for ourselves, or we could stay and have a nice evening with each other."

"That's right, and we made a good choice." Callie picked up her glass and clank it with Arizona's.

"How about you? What's it like to work at Seattle Grace?" The blond wet her lips after the wine moistened her dry throat. It wasn't easy to sit with an extremely attractive woman under this romantic atmosphere and knowing that by the end of the night, she won't get to kiss those plump lips no matter how badly she wanted to.

"Not to brag, but I'm also the secret boss of the department. Even though I'm just a 5th year resident." Callie tilted her head cockily. "My boss should be retiring soon. I'm waiting for the approval of my fellowship application, shouldn't be a problem."

"You're just a 5th year? I couldn't tell." Arizona tilted her head to the side, screwing her eyes like she was trying to guess the age of the brunette.

"Why? Because I look old?" Callie touched her own face mockingly.

"No, of course not." Arizona corrected it hurriedly. "It's just... you have confidence when you talked about your job. It's like you know what you're doing."

"Well, I have a pretty good idea about my work. Every time I hold the drill, I can feel the power from it and I just know I can fix that broken bone." The brunette held up her hands as she was talking, liked she was holding the instruments in her hands.

"A woman with a tool, that's hot." Arizona pursed her lips seductively, and Callie returned with a flirty wink.

The waitress came with their second bottle of wine, and their main course hadn't even served yet.

* * *

"You're named after a ship? I thought it was the state that you were conceived." Callie leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table teasing her dinner date.

"Not just a ship, a battleship. From WWII, Pearl Harbor. Ring a bell?" Arizona pushed the brunette's shoulder playful. 2 hours in, the two women already felt like old friends. And physical contact came natural. "My parents have never been to Arizona."

"Interesting. Even though it sounds a little weird, it's a meaningful name, as long as you explain it to people every time you introduce yourself." Callie laughed out, making the blonde purse her lips to an adorable pout.

"You're making fun of my name? Like yours is anything special. Callie." Arizona said the name with exaggerated mouth movement. Callie stretched out her hand trying to flick the pink lips with a mischievous smile.

"It's Calliope, actually. It means beautiful voice. My father named me Calliope after hearing my first cry."

"You do have a beautiful voice, and you are beautiful, like your voice." The blonde stared at the gorgeous woman in front of her dreamingly. The wine was really getting to her head and the flirtation came out without realizing it.

"Thanks." Callie smiled sheepishly. She swallowed the same compliment that almost slipped out of her mouth. Her sight shifted from the blue eyes to the pink lips between the pair of dimples. "How do you know you're gay?"

"How do you know you're not?" Arizona answered with a question, still looking at the brown eyes beauty with a smile.

"I don't know. I've dated men my whole life." Callie propped her chin up by the elbow. Maybe because of the wine or the attraction she felt from this woman, Callie wasn't sure anymore.

"How can you say it's your whole life? Your life isn't finished yet." The blonde gave a lopsided grin. "But to your question, I just knew."

"But how?"

"Have you even been touched by a woman? I don't mean sexually. Maybe just a light brush on your arm..." Arizona reached out her hand across the table, fingers trailed along the caramel arm with a featherlike touch. She smiled while the arm was covered by goose bumps and a visual gasp from the plump lips. "You feel the electricity travel around your body even for just the lightest touch. So soft and gentle, liked you're the most precious piece of jewelery in the world; And when you kiss a woman, their lips..."

Arizona stopped talking and withdrew her hand because their waitress was standing next to their table.

"Ladies, can I take your dessert order?"

"I don't think I have room for dessert. What about you, Calliope?" Arizona asked her dinning companion. She smirked seeing the brunette seemed still in the haze of their conversation. "I don't think we're going to order any dessert."

"Ok, is there anything else I can get you?" The waitress asked again, she waited while the two women exchanged the words.

"It's not so late and I don't have to work tomorrow. Do you want to stay, have another drink over there at the bar?" Callie asked the blonde hopefully. She was having a good time with this new friend and didn't want it to end yet.

Arizona accepted the suggestion gladly. Truth to be told, she didn't want it to end too.

The waitress helped them move to the bar area of the restaurant. Since the date turned out not too bad, they decided to spare Mark for another 60 bucks bottle of wine. They ordered something cheaper, and along with a couple of tequila shots.

"You are telling me, you dated an intern during your 3rd year? Who is an inch shorter than you? And failed his intern exam," Arizona exclaimed, the wine in her hand almost spilt all over the little table. "And he dumped you for a skinny blonde after you helped him overcome the death of his father?"

"She's skinny, but her boobs are big." Callie held up her hands in a gesture of showing how big those were. She was drunk and really loosend up. Arizona laughed out loudly and grabbed the brunette's wrist to pull her hand down.

In the bar area, they were no longer sitting across the table. Now they each sat in an armchair side by side in the corner. More cozy, and more intimate.

"That seems kinda disproportionate." Arizona made a grimace. "A half body woman with big boobs? Yikes."

"Right, like you wouldn't hit that." Callie tilted her head toward the bar, where a model like tall blonde was leaning against the bar, showing off her long legs with a pair of hooker heels.

Arizona followed her gaze, but turned back around after a quick glance.

"Nope. I appreciate a full body. A woman should have curve in the right place." Drunken blue eyes roamed up and down her new friend's body playfully, making Callie feel the flush on her cheeks.

"You're just trying to make me feel better." The brunette threw a glance to Arizona before picking up her glass. "But it works. Thanks."

"I'm not just saying it." Arizona turned in the chair, bending a leg on it to face Callie fully. "I don't usually go on any blind dates, never. But the way Teddy described you, I knew I wanted to meet you."

"Really? What did she say?" Callie was curious. "I've only met her once, briefly."

"She told me you're gorgeous, which I have to say she was not lying. She said you have the brightest, most sincere smile that could melt the world, again, not lying. And she told me you have the biggest heart and deserved to be loved. That I think was coming from that Mark guy." Arizona put her arm over the back of the armchair, gazing at the brown eyes with a smile. "And I said to myself, a perfect woman like that and still available? I need to see why. And now I know."

"What do you know?" Callie shifted in her seat, now they were again sitting face to face but just a foot away.

"You just met the wrong person, Calliope." Arizona breathed out. She picked up Callie's hand and caressed it with her thumb gently. "It's not your fault that that intern guy chose to be with that bimbo. You picked him up in his lowest, you loved him unconditionally and the ego in him couldn't accept that you're stronger than him. He left you not because you are not as beautiful as that model. You are gorgeous, Calliope. You just don't believe you are more beautiful than any other women out there. Anyone would be lucky to be loved by you."

Callie eyes shifted to the pink lips while Arizona was talking. No one had ever talked to her like this, and no one had ever looked at her like this. She was spellbound by the words coming out from those lips. More precisely, she was wondering how it felt to be kissed by those lips...

Never the one considering before acting, she leaned forward cupping Arizona's cheek in her hand as her lips pressed firmly on the blonde's.

Earlier, Arizona was going to explain to her how it felt to kiss a girl but got interrupted. All Callie could think right now was that there should have no word to describe it.

Arizona's lips were warm, and soft. Pillowy soft. The faint taste of the cherry lip gloss mixed with the wine and tequila was exotic, and the feeling of those lips pressed against each other was absolutely luscious. It got even better when the blonde started to respond to the kiss, nibbling at Callie's bottom lip and that made a silent moan come out from her throat involuntarily.

Finally, the kiss broke. Arizona pulled a few inches away from the brunette, waiting for the woman to open her eyes. The large brown eyes fluttered open after a few seconds, staring right at the blue eyes in shock.

"Wow," Callie breathed out after a long pause, her hand was still on Arizona's cheek and caressed it lightly by her thumb.

"What was that about?" The blonde swallowed hard. It was a chaste kiss, but the sensation was strong enough to make her inside boil.

"I just... I just..." The brunette breathed out again. There was like a hurricane in her mind. To her surprise, it didn't feel awkward to kiss a woman. Or say this woman. All she could think about was to have those lips on hers again. So she did it.

Snaking the hand from the soft cheek around to the back of the blonde's neck, and sliding her finger through the blonde curls, Callie pulled Arizona toward her gently. As their faces got closer, Callie could see the blue eyes were closed and the delicate lips of Arizona's were parted slightly. She did the same while their lips were back together again. This time, there was no confusion or surprise on either of the women. They both knew what they wanted.

Arizona felt the plump lips part and the warm tongue slipped ever so slightly between them, felt it skitter briefly across her lips, like surveying, like trying to collect enough courage to cross the border of really kissing a woman. There was no urgency in this kiss and the blonde was happy to let the other woman take control in it.

Their lips continued to slide against each other that made their heads grow foggy. The rest of the world faded away, the only thing in their minds was they never been kissed like this. And they both felt the same desire for one another. As a result, their tongues grew bolder.

Finally, Callie's tongue passed through the parted lips. She desperately wanted to feel the inside of the blonde's mouth, to know what she tasted like and how it felt to have the wet warmth pressed against hers. It felt rough, but incredibly soft.

Arizona shared the same need. Soon, the lips had formed an almost perfect seal, the tongues moving freely together and against each other while their hands held one another tightly by the necks.

Eventually, the kiss broke for the needed air. They pressed their foreheads to the other catching their breaths, smiles displayed on their faces.

"I've never had a kiss like that." Arizona said between her rapid breaths, eyes searching for any doubt on the brunette's face. But instead, there was that killer bright smile.

"Is that how it feels to be kissed by a woman?"

Arizona chuckled and moved her head from side to side very lightly.

"Not to everyone. At least, as I said, I've never been kissed like that."

"Bad?" Feeling self-conscious, Callie's face fell and wanted to pull away, but the hand from Arizona locked her in place.

"It felt amazing." Dimpled smile showed in full force. "The kiss was amazing, and I hope to experience that again, and again."

Callie bit her bottom lip trying to suppress the grin. She also had never had any kiss like this before, and she also wouldn't mind doing that again. Sharing a quick peck, the women reached for their glasses of wine to wet their dry throats synchronously.

"Oh god, I can't have any more alcohol. I'd totally pass out in the cab on the way home." The pair shared 3 bottles of wine and a couple of tequila shots over the night. Even though Callie drank more than her, it was still a lot more than the blonde could handle.

"Where do you live?" Callie asked. The two talked about everything during the night, but Callie just realized that she missed one of the important information about this woman.

"Near to Mercy West, the other side of the town." Arizona twisted her lips. She was counting the time she needed to get home, and she wasn't looking forward to it.

"It's like 20 minutes away." It was liked Callie could read her mind. Arizona shrugged a shoulder and sighed frustratingly. "I live 2 blocks away."

"Lucky you." The blonde chuckled, but Callie shook her head.

"No, I mean I just live 2 blocks away from here. I can't let you ride the cab home alone in this hour, especially when you're drunk."

"It's fine. I'm totally capable to ride..." Arizona spoke, but Callie raised a hand covering her mouth to stop her.

"You just said you're going to pass out in the cab. Just come home with me, at least let me make you a cup of coffee. If you could sober up, I'll call you a cab, ok?" The brunette tilted her head to the side, gave her friend a cute little pout that made the woman unable to resist the idea.

Since they didn't have to take care of the bill, the women just stood up and walked out of the restaurant, passing by the redhead receptionist who gave them a knowing smile, and their coats.

They stood outside the restaurant to put on their coats, Arizona's mouth dropped open when she saw the jacket on her date. Callie was wearing a leather jacket and she looked...

"Hot." The word came out of Arizona's mouth before she could stop herself. Her cheeks turned a shade redder despite on the alcohol she took.

"What?" Callie scrunched her face with a smile. She heard the word but she just enjoyed the abashment from the blonde.

"You look hot in that leather jacket." Arizona wetted her lips and said it again more clearly this time. "God, you are a surgeon working with tools, you can speak Spanish and you wear a leather jacket. Can you be any hotter?"

The blonde was walking backward in front of Callie, but her unsteady feet made her tripped not even after 2 steps. Callie reached out to catch her before she fell on her butt.

"Be careful, drunk head." Callie pulled her hard, making the two bodies collide with each other. One hand holding the slim waist, the other raised to brush the few strands of hair away from the face of the giggling woman, Callie said with a smile. "I was in Peace Corps for 4 years, how about that?"

"What is the word hotter than hot?" Arizona tilted her head, resting her chin on Callie's soft yet plump chest with a smirk. It felt so comfortable and right.

"You're a dork." The brunette kissed the tip of Arizona's nose before letting go of the shorter woman. Arizona stuck out her bottom lip to a pout after she lost the contact with the warm body, but replaced it by a content smile as soon as Callie held her hand and led her toward their destination.

They walked in silence. Not because they were out of things to talk but enjoying the comfortable night breeze, with their hands clasped to each other's like they were meant to hold hand like this.

They didn't say it, but both felt the connection, the chemistry between them. It scared Callie. She had never felt this with anyone, not even with George the guy who hurt her so much. She thought George was the love of her life but she had never felt the same butterflies in her stomach when she and the man shared a kiss.

And she had never felt the shiver of delight when she held hand with any one of her previous boyfriends.

Entering the elevator of her apartment building, pressed the button to her floor, she turned to stare at the blonde longingly.

"My father would total freak out if he knew." She said to Arizona.

"Knew what?" The blonde asked innocently. She raised her eyebrows when the brunette stepped closer.

"Knowing that I went on a date with a woman. And all I want to do is this." Callie dipped her head, grasping Arizona's jaw with both hands as she captured the waiting lips intensely.

The kiss didn't break off even they fumbled out of the elevator. They bounced between the walls down the hall, until Callie pinned the panting blonde against one of door. She stopped the kiss as the shaking hand reached inside her purse trying to find the key to unlock the door. Arizona giggled in her arms.

"Hey, Mark lives in that apartment." Callie turned her head toward the door opposite to hers while the hand was trying to slide the key into the lock. "Should we knock on his door and thank him for the date?"

"I think I prefer to get into this apartment." Arizona raised her hand to knock on the door behind her, and it opened in the same moment.

As soon as the door shut behind them, their lips found each other again. The two giggling women kissed and groping each other as their hands could go. Strong hands grasped the lapel of the peacoat to pull the soft body to hers before shaking it off forcefully. The heavy sound brought the blonde out of the lustful haze.

"Callie, Callie, wait..." Arizona tilted her head to pant out. Plump lips shifted to nibble at her neck made her hitch in her breath. She collected her energy to push the brunette away from her.

Callie asked with her eyes, hands still grasping the hips pressed against hers.

"Are you sure... you want this? We're really drunk and you... never been with a woman. Are you sure you're not gonna regret this?" Blue eyes stared at brown vulnerably. She really liked this brunette and the least she wanted was when the morning came, she was blamed of taking advantage of a drunken woman.

"Arizona," Callie gazed into the pool of blue, the eyes that she was attracted to since she first laid eyes on in the restaurant. "I've never been more sure about anything like this in my life."

"But Callie..." Arizona tried again, but the brunette shut her off by her lips.

"No buts." Callie pulled away slightly, her hands moving up and down the sides of the blonde's body. "Don't tell me you don't feel it. Don't tell me you don't feel the connection between us. I know we are moving really fast, too fast. But I want you, unless you don't."

Arizona's answer was to pull Callie's lips on hers by a firm gripe on the taller woman's neck. That was all the confirmation she needed and she was just going to let the passion roll.

By the time they reached Callie's bedroom, both were half naked except their panties, and Arizona's bra in Callie's hand.

* * *

Sunlight shun through the drapes on the angelic face that made the blonde squeezed her eyes tight. It was strange because the sun doesn't rise in the direction of her bedroom. Slowly coming out of the slumber, she felt kinda disoriented. This wasn't her bedroom and it surely didn't feel like her bed sheets underneath her naked body.

She was lying on her stomach. Trying to turn around but she couldn't move. She groaned when she felt the sore on her body, especially the pleasurable sore between her thighs. Other than that, the other body half laid on top of her was the reason she couldn't move.

Arizona turned her head to the other side, another groan left her lips involuntarily due to the pounding in her head. As she opened her eyes after the pain subsided, she found the gorgeous Latina from last night was still deep in her sleep and the face now was just centimeters away from hers.

A slightly panic went through her body made her shiver. She stared at the sleeping woman trying to recall the night before. The dinner turned out very well, they were talking, laughing, kissing... and had amazing sex. So amazing that she had forgotten for a minute that the brunette had never had sex with any woman before. She was Callie's first, after she was dumped by a man.

Stupid drunken head. She slapped herself in the head mentally, but the headache did it for her.

She tried to pull herself away from the bed, but the dead weight behind her made it very difficult. She could try but it probably would wake the sleeping brunette, then the whole effort of sneaking out would be pointless.

"For someone apparently having a hangover, you are thinking way too loud." Suddenly, Callie murmured with her eyes still closed, making the blonde jump slightly.

"You're awake." Arizona whispered. She rarely woke up in bed with a one night stand, let alone a straight one. She didn't know what would happen with the brunette after she sobered up, realizing that she had slept with a woman.

"Yeah." Callie breathed out, her eyes fluttered open with a small smile. "Have a headache?"

"Yeah." The blonde smiled back. "You?"

"Not so bad. I'm used to it."

"You really should drink less..."

"Says the one who has a headache."

They smiled to each other during the small talk. It was surprising comfortable between them and either of them wanted to move.

Callie lifted her head lightly to glance over to the alarm clock on the nightstand, it was 9am already.

"I'm surprised you're still here." Callie sank back on the pillow. Their heads were still close to each other.

"You want me to leave?" Arizona tried to pull away, but Callie's hand flew to her naked hip to stop her.

"No, I want you to stay. I'm just saying because most men would be long gone. I'm not saying I have a lot of experience about that... I'm just saying." The brunette said in one breath. She didn't want Arizona to think she was a slut that invited different men in her bed. She really found herself liking this woman.

"You're cute when you grumble." Arizona tried to swivel again. This time, Callie shifted the weight slightly to free the body trapped under her. In the new position, their legs entwined and arms rested on each other's hip limply. They fitted perfectly into the other and they could feel the heartbeats against their chests.

Staring at the morning glow on the brunette's face, Arizona had a desire of kissing those lips again but she didn't know if Callie still wanted it. So instead, she raised a hand to brush the raven black hair. She remembered how soft it was when she had a handful of it last night.

Callie closed her eyes and sighed softly. She felt the butterfly returned and she was scared again. She through her feeling to this woman last night was because of the wine, but now she was sobered, well rested and sexually satisfied, the feeling didn't go away.

"So what now?" Callie spoke in a husky whisper. "I'm attracted to a woman. I had sex with a woman... Am I a lesbian now?"

"Why do you have to label yourself?" Arizona ran her hand through the dark hair one more time, rested it on Callie's jaw and caressed the caramel color cheek with her thumb. "When you're attracted to someone, why let the gender define it?"

"Do you mean I don't need to be a lesbian to... continue this, with you?" A light blush came on the brunette's cheeks. Suddenly she found herself incredibly vulnerable within Arizona's embrace. "Because I like you. I don't know what last night meant to you but... I really like you. Not just about the sex, but everything about you. I hate to sound so clingy but I really want to know you better."

"I really like you too." The small smile on the blonde's face spread to a dimpled smile. She pushed Callie on her back and gazed into her eyes from atop. "In case you don't realize it. I'm attracted to you too. And I'm glad we don't have to end it in here."

Their lips met again. It wasn't like their first kiss that was full of testing and exploring, or the passionate kisses during the heat of the action. This was a lazy morning kiss between the two, expressing their deep sensation with each other. A genuine tender kiss.

For minutes, they just laid there naked in bed, bodies pressed against the other with their mouths attached together. Once in a while, one of them could brush the tongue on the other's lips and the other could gladly intertwine with it. But even so, it was gentle and sweet. They knew there was no doubt that the thing between them wasn't blinded by the raw sexually attraction or the alcohol intake. There was something deeper, more meaningful behind it.

Eventually, their bodies started to respond to the other. But before anything could happen, there was a loud bang on the door. And since the bedroom door wasn't closed when the women rushed into there, they could hear the sound from outside very clearly.

"Torres! I know you are there! Open up!" A male voice was shouting outside the apartment. Arizona broke the kiss to stare at the brunette in wide eyes.

"Shit! That is Mark." Callie sighed with frustration. She pushed the blonde off her and about to get up, but the front door was already opened. No time to throw on any clothes, she fumbled to get the comforter to cover their naked bodies.

"I got a call from Sarah, the dinner from last night cost me almost 450 dollars! 450 dollars! What did you eat?" Mark used the spare key that Callie gave him to enter the apartment. He was oblivious to the scattered clothes around the living room. "You said you're tired of men so I hooked you up with a lesbian as a joke, to make you laugh. This is how you pay me back?"

He had his jaw dropped on the floor as soon as he took in the view in the bedroom.

"Hey Mark," Callie propped herself up by the elbow, the other hand clinging on the comforter against her chest tightly. She tried to act as casual as she could, but her cheeks were beet red. And she tilted her head to the side. "This is Arizona."

Half of the blonde's face was under the cover. She wriggled her fingers to the intruder, no intention of making more friendly contact with him in this status.

"Well, nice." The man's face spread to a most nasty smirk. According to Callie's exposed shoulders, he had no doubt that the women were naked underneath that cover. "I think my money was well spent."

Callie sat up straight to grab the pillow behind her to throw to the smirking man. He caught it with a roar of laugher.

"I let you two finish." Mark threw the pillow back on the bed, closing the door for the women on his way out. "And you still have to pay me back the dinner."

Callie flopped back on the bed. The two of them looked at each other for seconds before bursting into laughter in the same time.

"Did you have any idea the dinner cost that much?" Arizona asked with a grin. The brunette just shook her head with an even brighter grin, she was the one ordering but she didn't really pay any attention the price.

"Well," She picked up the fair hand to bring it to her lips. "If that's what it costs to bring us together, you can't really put a price on it."

\- the end -


	2. Birthday party

Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.

A/N : I didn't think I'd continue with this story because *cough I really like what I did in the first chapter and I am afraid I'll ruin it. I changed my mind because some ideas came in my head after a bad date I had. Please let me know what do you think about this chapter and should I continue (although another chapter has finished but I haven't sent it to my wonderful and amazing beta calzonaforever35 yet). If you don't like it, I can take this down and pretend the second chapter has never happened, ok?  
Another thing, since the first chapter had nearly 10k, I made this and the following chapter with the similar length. Would it be too long to read? When I read back the story I found myself kinda like with bipolar disorder (it won't be that obvious when the chapter is shorter).

Once again, thanks to my best gal calzonaforever35, you did an amazing job to help me with this. You are the best ;-)

* * *

Chapter 2

"Arizona." Teddy flopped down on the chair next to her best friend who was sitting alone in the corner of the cafeteria with a medical journal in her hand. "Do you know I have a medical degree? I'm a board certified cardiothoracic surgeon?"

"What are you talking about?" Arizona tilted her head at the long haired blonde doctor. "Someone judged your medical opinion?"

"No, just someone seems to be forgetting that I'm a surgeon, not a messenger." Teddy cast a hard glance to Arizona before picking up a baby carrot from her plate. "By someone, I mean the woman you are avoiding."

"Who?" The PEDS fellow squinted at her friend.

"Callie!" Teddy rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and sighed heavily. "You haven't called her. She was talking to Mark and Mark keeps bugging me to see what your problem is."

"I don't have a problem. I'll call her when I have time. You know how hectic it's been at work lately." Arizona picked up the journal again, intending to end this conversation but Teddy snatched it from her hand.

"Yeah right, so busy that you can't even pick up the phone to answer her texts. Seriously, you said you had a good time the other night and you like her, why are you avoiding her?"

"I am not avoiding her. I am busy." The blonde tried to get the book back, but Teddy held it further away from her.

"Call her."

"Teddy... I just... ugh!" Arizona tipped her head back and groaned. "Ok, I like her, a lot. But she has never been with a woman and I was her first since she was heart broken over a guy. Do you know how much trouble I could get myself into?"

"Enlighten me." Teddy threw the journal on the table, crossed her arms against her chest, and looked at her best friend in amusement.

"She was lonely and I was there, and drunk, ok? It's new and exciting for her. Yay!" Arizona feigned an excitement, but her face fell in a split second. "But soon she's gonna realize being with a woman means... being with a woman. There has a lot of pressures, you know? I grew up gay, I know how hard it is and it took me years to put the staring behind me. I don't want to be the one left heartbroken when she wakes up and decides that she prefers someone with a penis, someone that she can hold hands and kiss on the lips in public."

Teddy looked at the usually confident PEDS surgeon in silence. This was a side of this woman that she had never seen. They knew each other for 2 years and even before they became best friends, she had known that Arizona was gay, and happy. She couldn't imagine the difficulty she must have faced over the years. Of course, people are more accepting nowadays, but still there is a lot of homophobia around the world and they could be unbelievably harsh.

"Shouldn't you let her decide? You didn't call her back and you didn't tell her the things you just said, you just bailed." The cardio surgeon softened her voice and landed a hand on Arizona's shoulder. "If it was just any other women, I wouldn't bother having this talk with you. But you said it yourself, you like her, a lot. When was the last time you went out with someone and felt that way? Give her a chance and talk to her. Mark arranged a dinner with me and Callie tonight, come and join us?"

"No I can't. I have a date with Sharon... no, Cheryl from dermatology tonight." The blonde shook her head slightly and picked up her soda for a sip. "She asked me out a couple times and I can't say no anymore."

"Arizona, why would you do that to yourself?" Teddy dropped her hand and sighed again. "You don't even like her. You said she's... talkative and the way she laughed through her teeth gave you chill."

"Well, I said a lot of things." Arizona shrugged. She checked her watch and rose up from the chair. "I have rounds. Anyway, I can't go with you and your man candy tonight. You have fun."

"We'll be in the bar &amp; restaurant across from Seattle Grace, come find us if you change your mind." Teddy called to her friend, who was already striding toward the exit of the cafeteria.

* * *

"No Mark, I don't think she'll come." Callie walked beside the tall man with her head hung low. "I called her. She said she was working and will call me back, but she didn't. I called her the second time that night and she told me she had to rush to a surgery but I could hear American Bake Off in the background. I think the message is pretty loud and clear."

"Maybe she was just really busy..." Mark tried to comfort the devastated woman, but she cut him off.

"Yes, we're surgeons and we're busy, but so busy that we can't have a 5 minute phone call? I don't think so." Callie cast him a side glance. "I'm a 5th year, remember?"

"Teddy is going to bring her here and then you two can talk it out, ok?" Mark put a hand on Callie's shoulder as they walked across the street. "I told her to come with that woman or I'm gonna withhold sex. I'm sure Teddy will do everything, even if she has to knock her out dragging the body across town."

Callie chuckled and leaned her head on her best friend's shoulder. She didn't believe Mark was really going to withhold sex for her benefit, but the thought did ease the anxiety in her stomach slightly.

After Mark left her apartment that morning, the two women didn't continue where the left off but got up for some food. They sat in the kitchen through a cozy breakfast. It was awkward for a while but soon they started to chat like old friends. Callie hadn't laughed that hard in a long time and she just couldn't get over the feeling that she wanted to know more about this woman. And she thought the feeling was mutual because Arizona wouldn't stop her dimpled smile.

But apparently she was wrong.

They exchanged phone numbers and shared a goodbye kiss by the door. Even though they both had a day off on that day, Arizona said that she had an appointment and needed to leave. They didn't set up another date but it was definitely on the table, otherwise why bother exchanging phone numbers, right?

After the second call, Callie stopped trying. But that didn't mean she already put the blue eyed blonde beauty behind her. 2 weeks since the two women hooked up, 1 week since she stopped calling Arizona, Callie came to work with a pair of bags under her eyes everyday. And more than once, she almost bit the head off the poor interns or residents who just made a minor mistake.

Mark had had enough of it. That was why he set up this dinner hoping to put his friend out of her misery. This was more than a simple dinner and he thought it was a good idea. The two women may or may not work it out, but at least they can break it off face to face. And the plan he had for Callie tonight most certainly could put a smile on her face. He thought.

The two friends approached Joe's, just in time to see a taxi pull up and a flash of blonde hair got out of it. Callie's heart skipped a beat when she realized it was Teddy. And the poor heart skipped another beat when the tall blonde closed the door behind her. She came alone.

"I guess you'll have to play with yourself tonight." Callie mocked her friend before she strode toward the new arrival. They shared a quick kiss on the cheek before Teddy apologized timidly.

"Arizona had an emergency."

"I understand." The brunette nodded her head lightly and stepped aside, giving room to the man standing next to her to kiss his lady friend on the lips.

"Let's go inside." Mark titled his head toward Joe's, gave a little push on Callie's shoulder nudging her to get in the pub while his free arm wrapped around Teddy's shoulder. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "You failed."

Teddy was about to answer, but the loud cheer coming from the pub made her jump.

"Surprise!"

As soon as Callie entered the pub, people standing around the entrance shouted at her. She looked around with her wide eyes. There were her co-workers, friends and a couple of friends from Mark standing there with a drink in hand and a big smile on their faces. A large banner with bright neon sign saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY hanging high above the bar and a full skeleton attached next to it.

"Happy birthday, Callie." Mark walked up to the stunned brunette and planted a wet sloppy kiss on the olive cheek.

"My birthday is after tomorrow." Callie turned to face the man with her mouth agape. She didn't even think he'd remember it.

"That's what the surprise is for." Mark winked at her and pushed her toward the group of friends, Cristina already handed over a glass of tequila to the birthday girl.

Birthday greetings, kisses and drinks were exchanged around the grinning woman. Teddy shifted to the quieter corner and pulled her cellphone out quickly.

"Pick up pick up pick up." She murmured to herself, and groaned when the call had diverted to the voicemail after a couple of rings. She said hurriedly after the beep.

"Dammit, Arizona! Why don't you answer your phone? It's Callie's birthday party. Call me back or just ditch that... Sharon or Cheryl and come over here."

Arizona felt the vibration in her purse when she walked in the restaurant next to Cheryl. She knew it has to be Teddy so she tried to ignore it. As soon as they sat down on the table in a quiet corner, the phone vibrated again and this time, even Cheryl could hear the faint sound.

"Your phone?" Cheryl asked. The blonde smiled sheepishly toward her red haired dinner date. She was about to say that she wasn't going to answer it, but Cheryl smiled at her. "Surgeons never go off the clock, right?"

Arizona pulled up a tight smile and reached into her purse. There was a missed call, a voicemail and a text message from Teddy. She just clicked open the text, the voicemail can wait. Her smile froze when she read the message.

'It's a surprise party. Callie's birthday party. Come over here! RIGHT NOW!'

"Something wrong?" Cheryl's voice pulled the blue eyes away from the small screen. "You look serious."

"Oh, just a test result of a patient." Arizona quickly muted the phone and shoved it back in the purse. She had made a decision. She was not going to pull herself back to that gorgeous, amazing and interesting goddess. She had to.

The blonde breathed out slowly and put the purse behind her back. She turned her attention to the date she had tonight.

"Wine, you prefer red or white?" Arizona asked, her eyes were scanning the rich choice of wine listed on the menu.

"Do you know a glass of wine could contain up to 160 calories? It's similar to a slice of Madeira Cake." The redhead made a grimace. She added quickly after met with the raised up eyebrows. "I don't mind if you want one, but just not for me. I almost had a heartattack this morning when I stepped on the scale."

"Why? You look good." Arizona smiled constrainedly. She did a double take on the skinny woman sitting next to her.

"I'm supposed to shake the last 2kgs of holiday weight this week, but between the meeting yesterday and this dinner with you, no time to jog at all." Cheryl sighed frustratingly. She ran a hand across her flat stomach. "If I'm not careful, I won't be able to fit in the size 0 anymore."

The blonde blinked and forced a smile. Cheryl was tall and slim with long silklike red hair, her collarbones stuck out above her V-neck silk top gracefully. She was pretty, and elegant. But Arizona's mind couldn't help to drift to that night when she snuggled up against the soft and curvy body. It felt...

Arizona cleared her throat. No, she shouldn't think about Callie.

"Are you ready to order? They make the best gnocchi here."

"Hmm... I can't. I don't eat carbs, especially those made from a potato. The 2kgs, remember?" Cheryl winked at the blonde and closed the menu. "I'm going for the salmon. You can never have too much of omega-3."

Their waiter came to the table. Arizona wanted to order the lobster bisque but afraid the redhead was going to talk about calories and diet again, she settled on a Cesar salad as for starter, but she wasn't going to pass on the gnocchi &amp; tomato bake.

"How about you, ma'am?" The waiter asked Cheryl.

"I'll also have a Cesar salad, dressing on the side; And I'll take the grilled salmon, well done, no salt, no butter, and lemon dressing also on the side."

Arizona listened quietly. She had no problem with people eating healthy, but sometimes you gotta loose up a little. Like the last time she had that delicious lobster with Callie in that Italian restaurant, it was cooked with a thick layer of cheese on top with a rich flavored butter sauce. She could still hear Callie's sexy moan after she put a forkful of white meat between those pair of plump lips...

"Arizona, are you alright?" Cheryl's voice pulled the blonde away from her memory. "You have your deep in your thought face on."

"My what?" A blushed found a way on the delicate face made the redhead chuckled.

"Like you're thinking of something interesting, care to share?"

Arizona felt her face getting even warmer. She was indeed thinking of something interesting, but she couldn't tell her date what and who it was about.

"Nothing important," The blonde cleared her throat again. "So, how was your day?"

The conversation continued, but from time to time, Arizona could feel the vibrations coming from the purse behind her back. Each time, she pushed down the urge to take it out and check the incoming messages. She needed not to think about Callie.

* * *

Half of the staff from the hospital were there at the party. Partly because Callie was a well loved surgeon in Seattle Grace, the other because Mark promised to pick up the whole bill when he invited his co-workers to the party. Not that the guests were so cheap that didn't want to pay for their drinks, but free beverages, free food, and a guaranteed fun party was always welcomed to unwind their busy day at work.

Soon after the birthday girl arrived, the party started and people spread around. Some were shaking their bodies on the dance floor, some were engaging in heated games around the foosball table, pool table and the dart boards, and some were occupying tables chatting away.

Teddy was sitting by the long table between Bailey and Owen. It was the first time they met, but as they all were experienced surgeons in there fields, the conversation went on in full flow.

"Has she mentioned me?" An intruder stood by the table interrupting the heated discussion between the new friends. All eyes looked up, there was Callie biting her lips staring at the cellphone in Teddy's hand nervously.

"What?" Teddy asked, playing innocent.

Callie sat down on the empty stool clumsily. Two hours in the party, she already lost track of how much of alcohol intake she had.

"I know you've been texting her the whole night. So I'm asking you if she's mentioned me."

Bailey and Owen looked between the two women, they didn't know what was happening but by the expression on Callie's face, they knew she was upset.

"Well, you know... she um... busy..." The straight forward question had totally caught Teddy off guard, adding to the couple glasses of Scotch in her head, she couldn't form a coherent reply. "She's been... um... she's been busy and um... just..."

"Right, busy." Callie sneered and took a big sip of the rum and coke in her hand. "I bet she's busy watching television on her couch instead of coming to my party."

"No, she didn't know it was your birthday party. Even I just found out after I arrived here." Teddy said quickly. "She had this date planned before I asked her to come to the dinner."

"She's on a date, huh?" The brunette shook her head in a sense of disbelieve. "Busy, my ass."

"Mind to fill me in?" The short woman on the other side of the table asked. Bailey always claimed that she wouldn't give a rat's ass of other people's business, the truth was that she was the biggest gossip in the whole hospital.

"I went on a date with Teddy's friend 2 weeks ago. I thought she was a nice person and I thought we were going somewhere. Turned out, she is no different than any other man." Callie finished her drink in one gulp and put it on the table heavily. "I can't believe this. I can't believe that I'm here again. Stupidly falling for another delusive promise, telling me I'm special and sweet and lovable. You know what? Apparently I'm not worth being loved."

No one on the table dared to say anything but stared at the devastated woman. Finally Callie stood up on her shaking feet. She patted on Owen's shoulder forcefully.

"You're a clever man, Owen. Now I understand why you're falling for Cristina. She's not that pretty and she's absolutely not all sunshine and rainbows, but you know what? At least she won't blind you with her perky personality and her dimples and sparkling blue eyes. She won't look at you like you're the most important person in the world and then just take it away the next day like you worth nothing. Nothing!"

The trio watched the brunette flung her arms in the air and staggered away.

"Um... should someone stop her? I think she's drunk." The long hair blonde watched the birthday girl walk straight to the bar, she asked the other two at the table as the same time her hand was working on her phone again.

"Nope, she's just warming up." Bailey turned around to give the new friend a brittle laugh. "When she starts shaking her hips like a sasha dancer on the dance floor, that's the time to stop her."

Teddy ended the call after it was sent to voicemail again. Not going to leave another voicemail, she redialed, and redialed.

"What's the deal with her and your friend?" Bailey leaned closer to Teddy wanting to pry. She shot a hard glare to the trauma surgeon when the man was trying to stop her.

"Mark and I set them up for a blind date. According to what we have heard, they hit it off and apparently they like each other, a lot." Teddy sighed and pressed redial on her cellphone again. "But my idiotic friend is going to throw it away for some stupid reason."

"So this friend of yours, is a she, right? No wonder Callie came to me talked about something like south of border and northern mountains." The general surgery resident glared at the only man on the table who had his face flushed like a red light. "What? Women talk. You don't want to know the things I knew about you that I wish I wouldn't."

"So Callie talked to you about Arizona?" Teddy's eyebrow rose up to her forehead, but it quickly turned to a frown when the phone finally got connected.

* * *

"I'm telling you, that is the best resort you can imagine. They serve the freshest raspberry water that you have ever tasted." Cheryl said enthusiastically before putting another bite of salmon in her mouth. Arizona couldn't help but reach for her water when she saw the redhead chewing that piece of dry looking seafood in her mouth.

"I don't even know what raspberry water tastes like." The blonde put her glass down. She started to regret not ordering a glass of wine for herself.

"Oh my god, you have to come with me next weekend. And the spa, I promise, you'd feel like you don't have any bones in your body after the massage. You have to tell them to use the sandal wood massage oil, the best massage oil in the world. And we made the whole floor switch to the coconut lotion after the nurse manager went there two months ago. She couldn't stop talking about the coconut lotion." Cheryl's face lit up while talking about the spa, like a little kid remembering their best birthday party. Arizona pulled her lips up to a forced smile.

"I don't know. My schedule is pretty packed. Dr. Stack is going on another holiday and I believe he is going to assign all the work to me." Arizona shrugged lightly. In the meantime, she felt another tremor coming from her purse.

The short and quick wobbles had signaled that incoming text messages came a couple times during the dinner. Arizona had fought hard to ignore it the whole night, but this time it was vibrating continuously and insistently, she couldn't help to reach to her back.

"I don't understand you surgeons. How can you live your life like this? Working hour after hour, chasing surgery after surgery for what? Life is more than cutting people open." Cheryl kept talking, smiling teasingly when the blonde pulled out her cellphone. "See, they wouldn't even leave you alone while you're on a date."

"I think it's the thrill of saving lives. And if we slow down, people might die." Arizona gave her date a tight smile before glancing at her phone. Of course it was coming from Teddy. She gave her date an apologetic smile before answered the call formally. "Dr. Robbins's speaking."

"Dr. Robbins? Dr. Robbins? You know you'd get fired if this was coming from the hospital, right? How can you ignore your phone the whole night?" Teddy was practically yelling at the phone. Arizona had to bite her lips from bantering back.

"I'm sorry. I'll have to take this." Arizona said to the redhead and excused herself to the back of the restaurant. She waited until she was out of the earshot from Cheryl. "I am sorry Teddy, but you know I'm on a date. It's kinda rude to answer your texts on the table, you know."

"So you're still on the date with Sharon? Going so well that you don't even want to leave her, huh?" Teddy sneered.

"It's Cheryl. But... ugh, to be honest, it's awful. Can you imagine having conversations around rabbit food, skin cares and holiday plans?" The PEDS surgeon rolled her eyes and hissed under her breath. "HER holiday plans because apparently, the folks in dermatology have holiday every other week and they go to resort or spa together, just to try their massage oils or lotions."

"They are dermatologists! They love lotions and rub lotions for a living, what do you expect?" The cardio surgeon said in a tone that wasn't appreciated by her friend. "Why are you doing this to yourself? Pay the dinner and come over here!"

"Teddy, are you drunk?" Arizona frowned. The frustration and aggression in Teddy's voice made her wonder.

"No I'm not, but Callie is!" Teddy looked over to the bar and found the brunette had just accepted another drink that was offered by one of Mark's friends. "Arizona, don't be a fool. You need to come over here, get over your stupid mind and tell Callie that you like her."

"No Teddy, I'm not coming..." Arizona sighed, her friend cut her off.

"You are annoyingly stubborn, do you know that?" Teddy groaned. "From the sound of it, you aren't having a good time on this date. And you are about to throw away the best chance you have at happiness."

"Teddy, I've told you..." The blonde tried again, but she got cut off again.

"Yeah, all your blah blah blah. Callie doesn't care you're a woman. She even talked about you to her colleague. She didn't even mind telling her colleague about..." Teddy looked over to Bailey, who prompted the words. "South of border and northern mountains."

"What?" Arizona was confused.

"She told Bailey she met an amazing person and had a wonderful time, and she went south of border and to the northern mountains..." Teddy made a grimace to Bailey showing that the other woman on the phone didn't get the insinuation. "Anyway, my point is, she wasn't embarrassed of being with you."

"She may not think that now, but..." Arizona trailed off in a small voice. She was fighting herself but the resolution was getting thinner and thinner by the second.

"Stop making excuses!" Teddy groaned again. She loved her friend but her patience was running out. "You're not here, you didn't see her face when she thought you were no different than anyone else, thinking that she's not worth loving and just don't care about her feelings."

"That's not true! I have never ever thought she's not worth loving!" Arizona yelled at the phone quickly. The last thing she would have thought was the woman that occupied her every thought was nothing but lovable. "It's for the best. For both of us."

"How does she know? You just bailed!" Teddy shouted back. There had a few seconds of silence between the phones. Sighing frustratingly, Teddy said solemnly. "Mark invited a couple of his friends to the party and they all have eyes on Callie. If you're really going to give up on this, suit yourself."

The phone ended with a tick.

* * *

Callie propped her head up with an elbow against the table, another hand absent-mindedly putting peanut after peanut into her mouth while listening to the guy next to her talking ceaselessly.

"Seriously, it's rare that under this economy, the stock of Torres Groups keeps going up." The guy had his expensive suit hanging on the back of the empty chair next to him, and his neck tie wrapped around his neck loosely. The clean cut good looks and the obsession over Callie's family business showed that he was coming from the finance world. "But I'd say that isn't a surprise, the few investment decisions they made this year were brilliant."

"Uh-ah." The brunette threw another peanut into her mouth, staring at the boastful man through her sleepy-eyes. Mark dragged her to sit with this boring friend of his, but excused himself to the bathroom after a few seconds and said that he'd come back. It felt like eternity ago, where the heck was Mark?

"I've heard that your father is still very active in the company. I can imagine he sits at the head of the dinner table and talks to you about his empire." The faceless man laughed out superficially. Callie rolled her eyes.

"I'm a surgeon, I don't have a dinner table. And I'm here in Seattle, my family is in Miami." Finally having enough, Callie got up from the chair and walked away without even saying goodbye to that guy.

Glancing around Joe's, Callie finally found the man who just abandoned her with that hideously dull and dry guy on earth was sitting by the table with his lady friend. She strode toward there, bumped into a couple of people on her way and then flopped down on one of the chairs around the table.

"Seems you and Gregory got along quite well, he's an interesting guy." Mark grinned to the brunette. In return, Callie gave him a cold stare.

"By interesting, you mean interestingly boring? I think he prefers to talk to my father." Callie rubbed her face with both hands before stood up from the chair. "I'm tired. I'm gonna go home now. Thanks for the party, Mark."

"Hey hey hey, it's still early." Mark shot up and grabbed his best friend by the wrist. "It's your party and you haven't even had a dance yet. Let's go."

Ignoring her protest, the man pulled Callie toward the dance floor, but he stopped midway when he spotted another friend of his nearby.

"Hey Jeff, when did you arrive?" Mark punched the tall and dashing guy on the shoulder playful. All the while, his hand was still holding Callie's tightly. "You remember the birthday girl, Callie?"

"I just got here. Sorry about that my meeting went long. Happy birthday, Callie." Jeff leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on Callie's cheek, a little too close to her lips purposely. The brunette frowned when she smelled a hint of earthy scent from his breath.

"You know what? I'll give you a chance to make it up." Mark pulled up a wide grin and put Callie's hand in Jeff's. "Callie wants to dance."

"Mark!" Callie stared at her friend in amazement, but he already fled away.

"What are you doing, Mark?" Teddy scolded the man as soon as he returned to the table. "You've throwing men at Callie the whole night."

"I didn't!" Mark shrugged, but he didn't hide the naughty smile on his face.

"We saw that, Sloan." Bailey butted in, and she looked over to the dance floor. "That handsy guy? Number 5."

They all turned to the dance floor, seeing that Jeff had a hand on Callie's shoulder and the other on her hip, pulling her close to him despite it was an upbeat song that was playing in the air.

"I'm just looking out for my friend." Mark picked up his glass to take a sip. "She needs to let loose."

"This is your idea of helping her? You know she needs to talk to Arizona, not speed dating." Teddy was getting annoyed. She knew it wasn't her business and she knew Mark meant well, but still, she hated the idea of seeing Callie give up on her best friend.

"Then get her here!" Mark glanced at the long hair blonde with his jaw clenched. "Callie is my best friend and I stupidly put her together with your friend. For a week Callie was happy because she thought she had found her soul mate. She talked about this amazing, beautiful and genuine woman liked she was a goddess. And then this goddess didn't call her back. Callie went back to that miserable woman that thinks she doesn't deserve to be loved. I'm responsible and dammit I'm going to fix it!"

The plastic surgeon said every word with force. A pregnant silence around the table until a gasp left Teddy's lips.

"Arizona..."

Arizona stood not so far away staring at the dance floor emotionlessly. She couldn't believe what a fool she was to have let Teddy talk her coming over.

After she got hang up on, she stared at her phone with a battle in her head. Teddy was right. Callie deserved to know why she was holding back. Not because she didn't like Callie but her stupid insecurity. It was every lesbian's nightmare to fall for a straight woman, afraid to be an experiment and get their heart broken. The smart way was not to give that a chance to happen.

But Callie was... special. And tonight with Cheryl had proved that.

Not that she had never had a bad date before, the redhead wasn't terrible. But once you met the person that could make you laugh without trying, made your heart tingle with just a flip of hair, everyone else seemed... colorless.

Maybe she should give it a try. Maybe she should explain to Callie why she was avoiding her. Maybe she wouldn't feel that butterfly in her stomach when she saw the brunette again and they both are going to admit that that was just the alcohol induced fling. Maybe... Maybe...

Before she knew it, the taxi pulled up in front of the pub opposite to Seattle Grace Hospital. It took her a whole 5 minutes to get up the courage to enter the place. There was a lot of people inside and none of them that she knew. But looking up of the banner, she couldn't help to chuckle at the skeleton decoration, how appropriate it was for an ortho surgeon's birthday party.

Glancing around the pub, Arizona found her friend on one of the table having a heated conversation with a man. That was Mark. She just caught a glimpse of him that morning but she recognized the man well. But Callie wasn't there. On her way walked toward that direction, she found everyone on the table looked over to the crowded dance floor. Almost by reflex, she followed their gazes.

Callie was wriggling her body trying to get those aggressive groping hands of Jeff's off of her, but in Arizona's eyes, the brunette was passionately grinding against a man on the dance floor.

The air in the pub seemed getting thinner, Arizona found herself having trouble breathing. And in the same time, she couldn't move. She couldn't take her eyes away from the scene that was playing 20 feet away from her.

Even when a hand squeezed her shoulder, she couldn't look away.

"Arizona, it isn't what it seems like." Teddy said hurriedly. "It was Mark's idea. She was going to leave but Mark dragged her out there to dance and practically pushed her to that guy. They're just dancing."

"That doesn't seem like dancing to me, Teddy." The blonde turned to look at her friend, said stiffly. "It seems she's having a good time."

"No, she isn't. She didn't even want to be in here. She tried to leave but Mark made her stay." The long haired woman pleaded. Mark was doing what he thought was the best for his friend, and she felt that she needed to done the same for hers. "She misses you."

"Anyway. You wanted me to come over and I'm here and I've seen what I needed to see. I am leaving." Arizona waved her hand and turned around. She didn't need to be in here. She couldn't stay here.

"Arizona, don't just go away." Teddy grasped her wrist stopped her from leaving. Arizona swiveled around wanted to scold at her friend, but her gaze couldn't help to land on the dance floor.

Callie finally found the energy to push Jeff away from her. The man tumbled a few steps away. That was the moment she realized there had a pair of piercing eyes staring at her from afar. With a little hiss, she let out her breath. There was the woman that she couldn't shake from her mind.

Their eyes locked. For a second, Callie was thrilled to know the blonde actually came. A smile found a way on her face but it fell quickly when she remembered the hurt that she had been feeling because of this woman.

She couldn't look at those beautiful blue eyes that had drawn her toward this heartbreaker in the first place. Not right now. She turned on her heels running to the back of the pub before Jeff stepped closer to her again.

Arizona didn't miss the emotions on the brunette's face. Her heart clenched and she was frozen on the spot. She thought she could just walk away but she found herself drowned into the pair of soulful brown eyes again. The eyes that could tell her a millions things but right that moment, that split second, there was just one message - you've broken my heart.

"Are you really going to throw that away? She likes you and you like her, does the rest of it really matter? You haven't even given it a try. Don't you see..." Teddy was talking, but none of it got into the blonde's head. Slowly, she pushed through the crowd and moved toward where Callie vanished.

The narrow hallway led to the kitchen. Before the double door, there were 2 doors indicated man's room and ladies room. It didn't need to take a wild guess to know Callie must be in the ladies room, but it was the clamor coming from the room gave it away.

"No! Go away!" That was Callie's shouting.

"Come on! I know you want it!" A man's voice was panting heavily.

"No! Stop it!" Another desperate shout came from Callie.

Flinging open the door quickly, the sight inside the room made Arizona's blood boil. Callie was pinned against the wall, fighting hard to get a man off of her. That was the same irritating guy that had Callie ground against on the dance floor a moment ago. He was trying to kiss the brunette on the lips but failed when the dark head kept twisting and writhing. Instead, he buried his face in the caramel neck started sucking, while one of his hands savagely grasped the brunette's wrist and pulled it above their heads, his other hand running up and down the curvy body crassly.

"Hey! Let go of her!" Despite the man was at least a half feet taller and absolutely stronger than her, Arizona pounced on the guy and grappled his shoulders as hard as she could, but Jeff didn't even flinch.

Rapidly gazed around the room, Arizona grabbed the ceramic hand lotion dispenser from the counter and smacked it across the attacker's head without mercy.

A wail came out from the man before he bent to a squat and held his head with both hands.

"What the fuck? Bitch!" Jeff yelled at the blonde, who was staring him down with fire in those blue eyes.

"When a woman says no, it means no!" She raised her weapon holding hand high affectedly. "Go away before I hit you again!"

Fear appeared in the bloodshot eyes. It took Jeff two tries to stand up on his feet and stumbled out of the ladies room. All the while, his mouth didn't stop cursing the furious woman who attacked him.

Callie was still in shock. Her mouth opened wide trying to catch her breath. Everything happened so fast. She rushed into the bathroom trying to get away from the blue eyes, to clear her mind but someone snuck in before she could even turn around. A rough hand grabbed her arm and pushed her up against the wall. She was crying for help and next she knew, Arizona was standing there in front of her.

"Are you alright?" The voice came out of the blonde seemed aloof and distant. Callie felt a chill up her spine that didn't know it was coming from the trails of the wet kisses on her neck or the coldness from the blonde.

"Yeah." The brunette swallowed hard and nodded slowly. She took a paper towel from the wall and ran it under the water, using it to wipe her neck with shaking hand. She hissed when a sensation of tingle experienced in her wrist. Looked down at her hand, it was red and swollen with a set of fingerprint wrapped around the wrist.

Arizona saw it too.

Callie hitched in her breath when the blonde stepped closer from behind, slim fingers run along the reddened skin. She turned around slightly as Arizona reached out both hands started to examine her wrist gently.

"Does it hurt?" Arizona asked, not making eye contact with the owner of the hand. But from the corner of her eyes, she could see Callie was shaking her head.

Caressing the injured hand gently, Arizona had to bite the inside of her mouth to swallow down the word in her head. Awkward silence flew between them and finally, she took a deep breath and let go of the hand. Mixed feelings in her stomach and there had a biggest one that she didn't want to admit, she had to run away from the woman that made her having this feeling. She turned around and about to twist the handle of the door to flee away, but a smoky voice stopped her.

"Why are you here?" Callie asked. "Weren't you on a date?"

Arizona didn't answer. She sighed silently and pressed her forehead against the door.

"Is it just a game to you? Going on dates, dazzling the women with your sweet words, get what you want and then move on to the next one?" Callie blurt out bitterly. So many questions in her head, this would be her only chance to get an answer because she knew as soon as Arizona walked out of the door, she might not see her again.

"It's not a game." Arizona breathed out with her eyes closed, still couldn't turn around to face the woman.

"Then am I just a joke to you? A pathetic woman who desperately wants to be loved? Or you wanted to see if you may charm a straight woman's pants off? Congratulations! You succeeded!" Callie threw the wet paper towel in the trash forcefully. She turned her head away from Arizona. The alcohol in her head made her even more emotional than ever. She didn't want the blonde to see her eyes were already filling with tears.

"You were ever a joke, Callie!" Arizona spun around in an instant. "But you are straight."

Callie's lips twisted in a contemptuous sneer. She wiped her eyes with her fingertips.

"Great. Now I have another item to add to the list of why I'm being rejected. That's just great."

"No Callie, that's not what I meant. It just... you are an amazing woman. You're attractive and you're intelligent and funny and..." Arizona took a step forward, trying to find the words to explain better.

"Stop it!" Tanned hand held up and quickly dropped to grab on the edge of the sink. Callie braced herself against the counter and looked into the mirror. "I don't need your pity words to make me feel better, or make you feel better. Your action said it all. I througth I wanted an answer but... Can you just... leave?"

Arizona stared at the reflection in the mirror. She hated herself for bringing this kind of hurt to those brown eyes. She was raised to be a good man in the storm, to protect the things that she loved and not to hurt anyone. But right now, she was hurting this amazing woman even before anything has started.

"You are straight." Arizona pulled her lips to a bitter smile. "You date men and I'm not one. You don't know how it feels to be a lesbian, or be with a lesbian. You don't see the problem because right now, it's just between you and me."

"Of course it's between you and me!" Callie turned to roar. "I thought I made it pretty clear that morning that I didn't mind if you're a woman or a man. I like you. Yes, I've said it. And I thought that meant something to you!"

"It does, Callie! But..." Arizona took another step closer to the taller woman, but Callie's raging voice cut her off.

"I don't need your commiserative explanation!" Callie backed away to extend the distance between her and the blonde. All the while, her furious brown eyes locked right into the pool of blues. "I'm just another hook up in your life, another notch on your bed post. I get it! I'm just the stupid one that fell for your sweet words. Those were your moves and I fell right into your trap. I kissed you. I invited you into my bed. I'm the fool that thought you truly liked me. You don't need to make up more excuses. It just makes me feel more stupid than I already am!"

"Let me get the word in, Callie! I'm scared, ok?" Arizona flung herself forward to grab on the brunette's upper arms, making the tall woman speechless with shock. "I'm scared because I have feelings for you that I didn't expect I would have. When I held you in my arms I felt my world stop. I didn't plan on sleeping with you but when it happened, it was the best I have ever had because we connected not just physically but emotionally. And then I freaked out! I freaked out while we were having breakfast in your kitchen because I wanted to be with you like that every morning! I wanted to wake up next to you and see the big smile on your face when I opened my eyes! And then I realized... we can do all those things within our bubble. This pretty pink bubble that wrapped around us, when there's only you and me."

Callie stared at the blonde with her brows knitted close together. The mixed signals coming from Arizona just made her puzzled.

"Then... I visualized me taking you out on a date, a real date. I want to kiss you but you pull your chair away because a friend of yours is in the same restaurant. We walking down the street and you shake off my hand because someone from work is walking toward us. I'd have to spend thanksgiving and Christmas alone while you're dining with your family, the family that doesn't know I exist..." Glassy blue eyes gazed pass the brunette staring at the dirty spot on the wall, deep in her own imagination until a warm hand palmed her cheek, pulled her out of the vision.

"What are you talking about?" Callie asked in a whisper.

"I have never been in a closet. I've been openly gay since high school. I can't let you put me in one just because I like you." Arizona glanced at the brunette for a brief second, then quickly looked away. "I can see you breaking my heart because you can't stand the stares from those homophobic jerks."

"Who says that I'm gonna shove you in the closet?" The brunette chuckled lightly in the ridiculous hypothesis - at least in her mind those were ridiculous.

"You will! You just don't see that yet. And... and... One day, we go out dancing but you don't want people to see us being too intimate in public, so I'd be sitting by the table watching you grinding against someone, like what just happened out there." Arizona dropped her head, small voice came thought the trembling lips. "I was jealous. When I saw you and that guy out there, when I saw he pushed you up against the wall and had his hands on you... I had never been jealous of anyone, but you made me jealous. And angry, because I know I am only your secret lover and I can never stop you from being with a man because you are straight."

"Arizona, please look at me." Callie pleaded, and used both of her hands to lift up the pale face and waited, until she held the gaze of the watery blue eyes. "You're being crazy. I don't know where all these ideas came from but I have no intention of hiding you. Mark knows about you, I talked to Bailey about you and I'm pretty sure Mark made everyone around me know that I spent the night with you and I didn't deny it, nor regret it. Mark made me dance with that guy but I didn't enjoy it. I wasn't grinding against him. I was trying to get away from him because all I could think about was how I wish you were there."

"Callie, you don't understand..." Arizona breathed out, but her voice was lost when she gazed into the affectionate brown eyes and the plump lips inches away from hers. She wanted to feel those soft lips on hers desperately. She wanted to hold Callie in her arms and forget about the rest of the world, her stupid insecurity, her crazy imagination...

The suddenly burst open door broke the spell.

"Hey Cal, a guy said there was a crazy woman that attacked him in here, Owen sent me to check on you." Cristina held the door opened and poked her head inside. She stopped momentarily to stare between Callie and the stranger who just jumped to the other side of the bathroom. "Is this the psycho bitch the guy was shouting about? Is she the blondie you slept with the other night? Are you two doing the nasty in here? Are you a lesbian now?"

Drunken Cristina deluged her friend with questions. Arizona didn't know the Asian, she didn't know the sullenness was her usual facial expression, and she had no idea that the flat and emotionless voice held no judgment or disgust.

"Cristina, I'm fine. Can you just... get out?" Callie waved her hand to her friend bashfully. Her cheeks flushed because of the questions and almost got caught kissing someone in a dirty bar bathroom.

She didn't know the fidgeted blonde standing in front of her took it in the wrong way and the insecurity found its way back in her head.

"You better come quick... no pun intended." Cristina laughed out sarcastically, pulled the door open fully and tilted her head to the side. "Mark is arguing with that guy who just got beaten up it here and I don't know what's going on."

Sounds of furniture knocking and people howling came from the outside. Callie bolted for the door with the other two women followed closely. They were shocked by the scene in the middle of the pub.

Mark was yelling at a man on the floor few feet away from him. His shoulder was held by Derek and Owen on the other side of him was grasping his clenching fist in the air, stopping him from throwing another punch.

"You're a piece of shit! You come to my party stoned?"

It was Jeff moaning on the ground. His cheek was red and swollen, apparently already took a punch from the angry man. Two of his friends rushed over and helped him to get up on his feet.

"Mark!" Callie exclaimed, with Arizona and Cristina on her side.

All eyes turned to the voice. Jeff's unfocused eyes fleshed when he saw the blonde woman in sight.

"That's the bitch attacked me! I'm bleeding! What the fuck, Mark!" The beaten man pointed a finger toward Arizona.

"You're luck it wasn't me caught you in there, or you'll have more than a knock on your stupid head!" Mark lunged forward wanted to hit the stoned man again, but Callie stepped in and blocked his way.

"Mark, stop it!"

The tall man stared at his best friend for seconds, and then flung his arm down.

"Get out of here, you worthless wuss! Get lost before I get another chance to beat the shit out of you!" Mark snorted to Jeff. His escorts quickly helped him walked toward the front door in a heartbeat.

With Jeff ran out of the pub with his tail between his legs, the fight was over and the crowd dispersed and went back to their previous activities.

"Cal, I am so sorry. I didn't know that bastard was high as a kite and out of control. If I've known, I wouldn't have pushed you to him." Mark apologized to the brunette sincerely. "I just wanted you to have a good time and forget about..."

"Shut up Mark, let me take a look at your hand." Callie cut him off and grabbed his hand forcefully, made the man hissed. The knuckles were bruised and already swollen. "Damn! It might be broken. I need to get you to the hospital."

"Don't be so dramatic, it's just bruised." Mark took his hand back and tried to fling off the pain, but his face screwed up from the movement. "How are you? Did he hurt you?"

"Arizona stopped him." Callie turned around trying to look for the blonde, and she was standing in the back next to Teddy, biting her lips listening to her friend who was apparently asking what had happened back in the bathroom. Callie turned back to Mark, "Give me a second, I'll go talk to her and then I'll take you to the hospital."

"No, it's really not necessary..." Mark protested. He's a tough man and he wanted to act like one, but a tap on his shoulder stopped him from continue talking.

"Dr. Sloan, I'm sorry but I have to ask you to leave." Joe said timidly. Although Mark brought the whole pub for the night but still, engaging in a bar fight was reasoned enough to throw him out of the place.

"Come on, Joe! It's over and that guy has left! I promise you, it won't happen again."

"Dr. Sloan, you know the rule..." Joe tried again, looking at Callie asking for help.

"Mark, don't make it difficult." Callie looked to the side and she found Lexie was standing not too far away from them. "Hey Lexie, can you walk Mark out to the door and wait for me? It'll just take a minute."

Mark wanted to argue but the brunette had already walked away, and the other brunette came to his side. He followed willingly when Lexie held his good hand and led him to the door.

"Arizona, sorry about that..." Callie strode toward the blonde with a small smile, but it fell quickly when she found Arizona was avoiding her gaze again. "I- I'm going to the hospital with Mark, he might have broken his hand."

"I understand. You should go." Arizona glanced around. She couldn't help to feel uncomfortable when there were a few pairs of curious gaze throwing to her way.

"How is he? That was a really heavy punch. That guy flew away..." Teddy interjected, oblivious of the awkwardness between the two women.

"Probably a sprain. I have a resident walk him out and wait for me outside. You can go check on him." Callie pulled up a force smile. She was hoping Teddy could take the bait and give her and Arizona the space. She needed to talk to blonde and preferably without an audience on the front row seat.

"Nah, maybe I'll call him later. We had a big argument and I don't think it's a good idea for me to go near him for a while." She was referring to the discrepancy she had with Mark regarding the whole trying to fix up Callie with his friends matter. And she had a valid proof when Jeff came to them telling what had happened in the bathroom. "I'm leaving now. Arizona you wanna share a taxi with me?"

"Yeah." Arizona nodded eagerly, still avoiding the burning stare from the brown eyes. But a hand on her shoulder prevented her from moving along with her friend.

"Arizona, can you give me a moment?" Callie dropped her hand when the blonde finally looked at her, but there was a shade of coldness on the blue stare. Teddy looked between the two women knowingly and stepped back.

"I'll go say goodbye to Owen and Bailey." The long hair blonde ran to the table of her new friends, who were looking at Callie and Arizona intensely.

"Arizona, I..." Callie opened her mouth, but the frigidness coming out from the blonde made her sighed frustratingly. "Seriously? What I said in the bathroom meant nothing to you?"

"Callie, haven't you seen the looks from your friends?" Arizona flung her hand around.

"What look?" The Latina shook her head wearily. She just didn't have the energy to go through that discussion again.

"Can you just for one second admit that you know what is it I'm talking about?" The blonde said angrily. She took a step close giving a hard glare to Callie. "You were embarrassed when that woman... Cristina ran into the bathroom saw that you were together with me. How can you pretend that you wouldn't mind..."

Arizona couldn't finish the sentence because her lips were shut by another lips pressed hard against hers. She tried to pull away but the firm grips from Callie on her jaws held her in place. Her knees got weak when Callie tilted her head to the side and locked their lips tight together. Once again, she was lost in the softness of the plump lips from the brunette. She still remembered the first time when their lips locked together, it was as soft, as warm and as tender as what she was feeling now. She couldn't stop herself from reciprocating when the sweet tongue forced the way invading her mouth.

The kiss didn't last long. Soon enough everyone around them noticed the kissing couple and all manner of cheers and whistles were scattered through the pub. Callie pulled her lips away and hovered an inch from the flush face. She had made a point and she wanted Arizona to know it.

"I'm out of my element here. I break bones for a living. I dated an intern who was shorter than me. Most days I wear last night's eyeliner to work, and I don't give a crap about what other people think of me." Callie stared at the blue eyes without blinking. "I don't mind kissing you in a pub full of my friends and co-workers because I like you. It's you that I like, not your gender. It's not me that couldn't get over the fact that I am going to date a woman, Arizona. It's you. This is- this is heterophobia, or biphobia. You don't think that people can be attracted to both men and women."

Arizona was trying to form some words but her tongue was tied. She wanted to throw caution to the wind. However, this was too perfect to be true. She was still scared. So scared that she afraid any move could make her wake up from this dream. All she could do was standing there staring at the brown eyes and watching them slowly filled with tears. Finally, Callie let go of her hands and stepped away.

The stunned blonde watched the woman in her dream disappeared behind the front door of the pub, with the parting words ringing in her ears.

"I can't keep chasing after you, Arizona. Not when you can't get whatever it is out of your head."


	3. Thanksgiving dinner

Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.

A/N : Thank you all for the nice comments about the previous chapters, you have no idea how much that boosted my ego :-p Just kidding. Actually I'm afraid I can't keep up with the standard that you guys like.  
I have this chapter finished long before 11x11, have you heard Callie said nobody cooks? Seriously? Oh btw, in this story let's pretend Derek and Addison never happened, just like the writers in GA decided to pretend Arizona's miscarriage has never happened, ok?  
As always, thanks to my wonder beta calzonaforever35 helping with this chapter. You did a beautiful work again my dear.

* * *

Chapter 3

"What do you have to do today?" Teddy asked her friend while seasoning her first cup of coffee of the day. She used to have coffee at home because the coffee from the coffee cart in Mercy West was horribly undrinkable. But she changed her routine 4 weeks ago.

It had been 6 weeks since Callie's birthday party, and a lot of things happened.

It all started with a sudden announcement from the board of Mercy West Hospital that they would be merged with Seattle Grace Hospital. It came out the week after the party. Within 2 weeks, staff were significantly cut except a few of them who could get a new contract from the joint hospital. Teddy and Arizona were one of them.

"Not so busy, thank god." Arizona sighed contently after taking a sip of the coffee. The coffee at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital was certainly better than old Mercy West's. "I didn't realize the heavy workload here before I agreed on taking this job."

"Oh save it. We both know you're happy to be the head of the department finally." Teddy cast a playful glance toward the new head of PEDS surgery. She was as thrilled as her best friend about this change. Arizona deserved this position long ago and it was a no brainier to accept the offer. However, she knew exactly why it took the blonde a whole week to make the decision.

Callie was the reason that Arizona was hesitant to take the job in the new hospital. Agreeing on the new job means she would be working in the same place with Callie, seeing her everyday, and probably work cases together closely; That could be super awkward.

On the other hand, this was an incredible opportunity. Being the head of the department in one of the top ranked hospitals was her goal and it would've been stupid to pass up on it.

To the blonde's surprise, she was worried for nothing. Over the 4 weeks working in the hospital, Callie was nowhere in sight. Her name wasn't even on the surgical board, at all.

The original staff of the hospital were friendly and had welcomed her and Teddy with open arms. She grew close with Miranda Bailey and Owen Hunt quickly, and the residents were much more helpful and efficient than the old sloppy people at Mercy West. Alex Karev was a welcomed surprise. Overall, she found herself fitting right in the new work place.

But there was a big question marked in her mind the whole time. She knew all those people were friends of Callie's, but none of them had once mentioned the brunette. Not even Mark Sloan, who was kinda hostile to her the whole time.

It wasn't that she didn't try to pry into some info about Callie from anyone, but Teddy was being no use ever since she ended the causal relationship with Mark. They kept the distance between each other because Mark had gotten back with Lexie and Teddy had fallen in love with a baseball player. Besides, the cardio surgeon refused to be drug into Arizona's business anymore because it was just too frustrating to see the stubborn blonde let that perfect woman walk away from her.

The only info Arizona could get was during a M&amp;M about an unnecessary above knee amputation on a 12 years old patient, Alex mumbled to her that Callie would be able to save this leg if the hothead Latina didn't quit her job before the merger because of a big fight between her and the former Chief of surgery Richard Webber.

"So do you have any plans tonight?" Teddy asked as they walked toward the elevator.

"I am going to catch up on some reading. I've barely had any time for my research since I started working here." Arizona shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. The friends entered the crowded elevator side by side after it was opened.

"No, today is thanksgiving. You're going to have dinner with me and Henry." Teddy turned to the shorter blonde with a smile after she pressed the door close button.

"Spending thanksgiving with your hottie new boyfriend? You are serious with this guy, huh?" Arizona teased her friend. "I don't want to be the third wheel."

"Don't be silly." Teddy rolled her eyes with a smile that she couldn't suppress. "I really want you to meet him. He's a sweet guy and I think he's the one."

"After 4 dates and you are saying he's the one, he must be really special."

"Oh I knew that since the first date. I just didn't want to rub it in your face. Anyway, you'll have dinner with us instead of staying in your sad lonely apartment eating the microwave dinner."

"Can you say it louder? I'm afraid the coma patient on the 4th floor couldn't quite hear you." Arizona glanced at her friend with a feign anger. She smiled to Teddy after the few giggles from the fellow passengers in the elevator died down. "Are you sure Henry is ok with that?"

"Don't worry, he wants to meet you too." The cardio surgeon answered over her shoulder on the way out of the elevator. 2 nurses got out on the same floor as they were sharing gossip in a whisper.

"Are you sure? The superstar with a scalpel has returned?"

"Positive. Dr. Shepherd told me to put her name on the schedule."

"No wonder he told Dr. Chang to..."

* * *

Hours later, the new head of the Peds surgery was paged to the ER. She ran out to the ambulance bay and found her resident was already there. The man helped her tie up the trauma gown as they were waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

"Are you ok?" Alex asked causally, but there was a genuine concern under his brows.

"I'm ok, it happened. The patient is in the recovery now." Arizona smiled softy in the question. She thought the resident was referring to the surgery that she just performed that the kid was touch and go for a while.

"No, I mean..." Alex didn't have time to explain. The siren of the ambulance getting closer and it stopped right in front of them in the next second.

"What do we get?" Arizona asked the paramedics while they unloaded the patient, revealing a very scared boy lying on the gurney.

"10 years old male, falling off a skateboard and hit the ground from 3 feet high. Unconscious for 5 minutes. Obvious injuries on right chest and right shin." One of the paramedics called out the symptoms and assisted the doctors wheeling the patient toward the trauma room.

"Get the X-ray ready and page Ortho." The blonde ordered without looking up from the tiny body on the table. The boy's consciousness was back and he was writhing in pain and panic. "And give him some morphine for the pain."

"Toby! Toby! Oh god!" A male wail broke through the air of the trauma room made everyone stare. "Oh my god! Baby! Are you alright?"

The cry made the boy wriggled even hard. He reached out a hand toward the man looking for some physical contact with the one he seemed familiar with, but the nurses around him held him down to prevent any further injury from moving around.

"Toby, Toby. You have to stay calm so we can help you." Arizona pulled up her super magic smile to the boy on the table offering some comfort. That did calm the boy a little. Then she turned to the new comer. "Are you Toby's parent?"

"I- I'm not." The man swallowed hard. His gaze shifted to the doctor but rapidly fixated on the crying boy again. Worry was written all over his face. "His father is out of town for a meeting but I've already called him. He's on his way back. I am his father's partner."

"Business partner?" Alex lifted his head briefly to address the question to the man, and her boss scolded him under her breath quickly.

"No, I'm- I'm his boyfriend." The man clenched his jaw.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The resident apologized timidly. "Would you mind waiting in the waiting room? We'll come update you later."

"No, I'm not going anywhere when Toby is hurt like this." Tears started to gather in the man's eyes. "You can't kick me out because I'm not legally his parent. He is my boy and I have every right to stay here and be with him."

"Sir," Arizona sent a silent instruction to the resident on her side. The two only worked together for a few weeks but they've already picked up their way of communication. Alex quickly took over the position and applied pressure on the open wound of Toby's chest, so the attending could go to talk to the distressed man. "What's your name?"

"Cameron, Cam." The man wiped his face and sniffed loudly. He was about to let out another wail when a needle was stuck in Toby's slender arm. Arizona placed a hand on Cam's shoulder hoping to divert his attention.

"I'm Dr. Robbins," The blonde said with her softest voice. "I'm going to take good care of Toby, ok? We're going to stop the bleeding on his chest and the leg, and we'll take him to CT to see if there's any damage in his head. It'll take a while and we need you to wait outside. Not because you're not his legal guardian but we need the room to concentrate on helping him, ok?"

"But- but- I need to see he's alright. I need to know he's alright." Cam looked at the blue eyes doctor with his lips trembled.

"He will be alright." Arizona ensured the man with a firm nod. "We're going to take the X-ray now and will know what our next move is going to be. I will come update you as soon as we know more."

A few linger looks sent to the now steady body on the table, Cam left the room with his heavy feet. Arizona turned away from the door while one of the nurses came to put a lead apron on her and helped changing to a fresh pair of gloves. She choked on her breath when the deep smoky voice in her memory came to life.

"Someone paged for an Ortho consult?"

The stunned surgeon whirled around with her wide blue eyes, unmistakably there was Callie entering the trauma room in navy blue scrubs. Her rich and generous dark hair was tied to a messy ponytail that showed off the strong jawline, and perfect tan on her skin.

Callie scolded in her head when she stepped in the ER and the nurse pointed her to the trauma room telling her that she was needed in Dr. Robbin's patient. She took a few deep breaths before entering the room. It was her first day back to the job. It was her first day as an attending there. She couldn't let any residual feelings she had with the blonde woman affect her ability to do her job.

She picked up the chart without looking at anyone in the room. When she got no answer from anyone, she lifted her eyes and met with a pair of ocean blue ones. For that split second, Callie felt the damn butterflies fluttering in her stomach again.

Thankfully, the moment was interrupted in the next second when a nurse approached her with a set of gear. She put it on silently when everyone worked to get the X-ray images.

"The rib is broken and punctured his lung." Alex pointed out, looking at his attending.

"Call the OR and tell them we're on our way." Arizona nodded. She looked over to the Ortho attending whom was biting her bottom lip slightly while watching the film.

"I'll have to go in to stabilize the fracture on the tibia." Callie sighed invisibly. Scrubbing in with Arizona was not on her agenda on the first day at work.

"You guys go ahead. I'll go update the family." The Peds surgeon helped the rest of the team wheel out the gurney, but she took the opposite direction walking toward the waiting area. Callie stared after her.

"The parents are here?" She asked the resident. Alex turned his gaze to the back watching his boss rounded the corner.

"The life partner of the father's."

As soon as Arizona stepped in the waiting room, Cam jumped up from the seat and strode to her. His eyes were red and puffy from worrying about the son of his boyfriend.

"Dr. Robbins, how is he?"

"Toby has a broken rib that punctured his lung, he's on the way to the OR and I'm going to operate on him to fix it. And..." Arizona stopped momentarily when Cam broke down and covered his mouth with one hand. "And he has a fracture on the tibia. My colleague Dr. Torres will fix it at the same time."

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" The man started hyperventilating. Arizona took his hand and led them to sit down, all the while striking Cam's back up and down, coaching him to breathe deeply.

"He will be fine. I'm good at my job and so is Dr. Torres. I'll make sure he's going to be fine, ok?"

"Is there any papers I have to sign?" Cam wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Truth to be told, he wasn't sure the shaking hand would be able to sign anything. The doctor shook her head slightly.

"No hurry. That can wait until Toby's father arrives." Arizona patted Cam's shoulder before standing up from the chair. She didn't have the heart to tell the man that he wasn't authorized to sign Toby's legal papers. But from the look on his face, she knew that he knew. "I'll make sure someone comes to update you about the surgery. You sit tight."

Toby was under anaesthesia when she arrived in the OR. Callie was already working on the lower half of the body with the assistant of a faceless intern, and Alex had opened up the chest waiting for her.

They worked in silence for a while until the intern exclaimed.

"Whoa Dr. Torres, that is... amazing." The intern was referring to Callie's handy work. Alex leaned toward the opened leg and sneered loudly.

"This? This is nothing. You should see her built an entire tibia with titanium. That was freaking badass."

"You two worked together before?" The young girl just started the internship in the new Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital no more than 2 weeks ago, and she had never heard of the Dr. Torres before today.

"Torres was a resident here before the merger." Alex answered nonchalantly, and went back to assist Peds surgeon sew up the ruptured lung. Little did he know that the abnormally quiet blonde was stealing glances at the other attending from time to time.

"Why did you leave?" The intern asked innocently. Her eyes lit up seeing the Ortho surgeon manage the drill at ease.

Contrarily, a pair of blue eyes darkened on the other end of the table. Arizona vividly remembered the last time Callie talked about how she felt with an instrument in her hands, just like she remembered everything else that happened that night.

"I took a break." Callie answered the intern. She handed the drill to the nurse standing next to her, involuntary throwing a glance towards the Peds surgeon who was elbow deep inside an opened chest. She was never a fan of Easter colors, but she couldn't help but adore the cuteness of the flowery scrub cap on top of the blue eyed surgeons head.

"Where have you been? Yang said she couldn't reach you on your cell." Alex carried on with the interrogation. He just meant to make small talk, what he didn't know was that his boss was patting his back for asking the questions for her.

"Oh, I went to LA for a couple weeks. My phone is somewhere in the ocean." Callie chuckled lightly recalling the incident that caused her phone being tossed into the sea. She cast a quick glance toward the blonde who cost her a phone before whirling around to the door when someone entered and called her name.

"Callie, I need help." Meredith entered the OR with a mask in her hand covering her mouth.

"You need a consult? I may need some more time to stable the screws. Can you wait or page someone else?" Callie frowned at her friend. The new chief promised her a light workload day and the wife of the chief knew about it. Back to back surgery should be off the table.

"No, I don't need a consult, but I need you to help me with the dinner tonight. Derek decided to throw a thanksgiving dinner, plus a welcome back party for you." Meredith rolled her eyes on the idea of having a big dinner party. "You know I don't know my way around the kitchen. But you? You like cooking and you can cook. So, I need you."

"A thanksgiving dinner? Do you know how long it takes to cook a turkey? I can make magic in the OR but not in the kitchen." Callie gestured the open tibia in front of her. Everyone in the room, including the silent Peds surgeon chuckled under the mask.

"I know that, I'm not that stupid about cooking." The irritated resident placed a hand on her hip. "Derek told me to call to the restaurant ordering a cooked turkey and some other things. But there's still a lot of stuff that needs to buy and make. I've checked the call sheet and you're off at 4. We'll go together to the grocery store and pick up the damn turkey."

"Fine." Callie murmured under her breath. She knew she wouldn't be able to find a way to get out of this.

Happy with the answer from the brunette, Meredith turned her attention to the others in the room.

"Alex, come home before 7 or you'll be in charge of the cleaning solely. Robbins, do you have thanksgiving plans?"

"I- I have plans with Teddy and her boyfriend." Arizona stuttered out. She didn't know she would be included in this conversation.

"No, you don't. You're coming to my house for thanksgiving. I'll go tell Altman to bring her date to my party." The resident nodded, ignoring the raising eyebrows above the mask. "You're off at 4 too?"

"Yeah?" The blonde answered uncertainly. Meredith nodded again.

"Great! We'll need another set of hands to help with the groceries. Besides, you don't know the way to go to my house, you'll come with us. Meet me and Torres in the lobby at 4."

"But- I-" Arizona wanted to decline the offer, but Meredith held up her hand to stop her and backing away to the door.

"No buts, chief's order. You are invited. See this as a welcome to the family party."

"Whoa, you sound a lot like the wife of the chief." Alex joked to his long time friend before she turned to leave the room. The woman giggled openly and threw him a grimace.

"Scary, right?"

The surgery went on in silence. Both attendings were focusing on doing their jobs, and scared on the idea of spending an evening together.

Arizona left Alex to close up the chest so she could go update Cam about the success of the surgery. Everything went well and Toby should be awaked soon. He would be immobilized for a couple days, but other than a cast on his leg for another 3 weeks, the boy should be able to go home within a week.

"Oh thank god! And thank you Dr. Robbins." Cam slump his shoulders dramatically as if the weight on his back vanished. He let out another tremble sigh, rubbing his face with both hands furiously. "I sat here thinking that Michael would never forgive me if anything happened to Toby. He would realize it was indeed a mistake of being with me... He..."

"Cam, this was an accident." Arizona sat down on the small table directly in front of the upset man. She placed a hand on Cam's knee sneezed it lightly. "He is a boy and boys are energetic. You won't be able to prevent this kind of accident."

"No, it was my fault. Toby always wants to go to the big boy skate park but Mike has made it clear that he is not allowed to go near there because he's too young. Toby begged me to take him to the park after Mike left home this morning. I know it. I know I shouldn't have because Mike wouldn't like it, but I just want Toby to love me. I don't want to say no to him." Cam sniffed, big brown eyes filled with unspilt tears.

"It's no one's fault. He fell, and you were there for him." The blonde said with a soft voice, but Cam was deep in his self-accusation.

"Michael is gonna hate me for this. I- I let his son climb up to that platform. His ex-wife would've never let this happen." A lone tear rolled down the stubble covered chin. "I am a mistake, just like what his mother and ex-wife said to us."

"Cam, listen to me. Toby is alright." Arizona fished in her lab coat pocket for a pack of tissue, offering one to Cam. "This was an accident, not a mistake. You have no idea how many kids come in the hospital with broken bones every single day. This happens to any kind of parents."

"You don't understand. Mike and I met each other when Toby was 5 years old. He has never been with a male lover but... nothing could stop us. He broke up his family for me. He came out to his parents for me. He has sacrificed a lot to be with me and I swear to god that I'll make it worth it. But I can't even keep his son safe." The man cleared his nose with the offered tissue. "I love Toby even though legally he is not my son, I am not allowed to sign those damn papers but he is my son. But I've just proved to everyone that I am a mistake, that I can't keep him safe. Every day I still feel the fear deep down in my stomach. Every day I am waiting for a shoe to drop. A wake up call to Mike that he'd realize this is a big mistake, that he is not really gay, that he should give his son a mother instead of another man in his life who'd put his son in danger. This is the shoe that I am worried about the whole time and I am the one to drop it."

"Cam," Arizona was staggered by the over sharing information. She paused for a second to find the right words to console the man. "You are not a mistake. I can't talk for Michael but as far as I heard, he loves you. He won't blame you for Toby's injury because it happens. Boys get hurt."

Cam brought his tearful gaze from staring at his hands to the doctor in front of him. And Arizona continued.

"I- um- once I heard from someone, that it isn't about the gender. When you love someone, when you're in love with someone, it doesn't really matter it's a man or a woman anymore. It's the person that you love." Arizona could feel a throb in her heart. Those were Callie's words but she was so stubborn at the time to grasp the truth behind it. "Love is bigger than anything. He loves you and he is willing to take the chance to be with you. That means a lot and you shouldn't let the fear take over you. Eventually it's going to hurt you, and Michael."

They both sat in silence letting the words sank in. Finally, the man pulled up a small smile.

Arizona stood up and about to lead Cam to see Toby, a man rushed in the waiting room caught their eyes. Cam jumped up to threw his arms round the man as soon as he ran closer. The sob coming from Cam gave the man a great deal of panic.

"What? What? Is Toby alright?" He asked, looking between the man in his arms and the doctor standing next to them.

"You must be Michael. I'm Dr. Robbins, the surgeon operated on Toby. He is alright. And I can take you two to see him now." Arizona raised her voice trying to cover Cam's cry. She smiled lightly when Michael looked confused about his partner wrapped around his shoulders tightly. "Cam is just relieved that you're here. He was worried about Toby."

"Oh, Cam." Michael kissed the top of Cam's head lovingly. "I'm glad you were here for him, take care of him. Come on, let go see our boy."

Arizona led the couple toward the ward. She didn't notice the wife of the chief was sitting on the other side of the waiting room with a handful of takeout menus, watching the whole scene unfolded from the corner of her eyes.

* * *

"Great, you are here. We can go now." Meredith clapped her hands together when Callie approached her and Arizona. The brunette was a few minutes late because she was stopped by a couple of nurses and residents, telling her how glad they were that the promising and well loved Ortho surgeon was back to the hospital.

Seeing the same leather jacket on Callie in daylight, it brought back Arizona's memory of that night when she grasped the lapel of the jacket pulling the woman in for a passionate lips lock... She had to turn her head to the side hiding the blush when they walked side by side to the parking lot.

"I went to check on Toby." Callie said causally. Sensing the quietness coming from the blonde next to her, she thought she should break the ice. She promised herself that she was going to act neutral around Arizona. She poured her heart out and the blonde didn't reciprocate, it hurt but she couldn't let it getting too awkward between them, affecting their profession relationship. They were colleagues now and that was all. "I met his two dads, they are... interesting. Especially Cam."

"Has he stopped crying yet?" Recalling the man brought a smile on the pale face.

"He started again when I told them about the broken tibia." Callie laughed along.

"You're talking about the sobbing man in the waiting room?" Meredith chipped in. "Everyone was talking about him. He didn't stop crying the whole time while he was in the waiting room."

"Well, he's an emotional guy." Arizona smiled. She was going to walk to her car but Meredith stopped her.

"We don't need three cars. You can ride with me."

"But I'll need my car to go home." The blonde asked with a chuckle. Her new colleague just shook her head.

"I'll have a house full of people, sure you can get a lift from anyone. Besides, it's nice to ride with someone. I might need you to help running the grocery list." Meredith continued her path after a shrug from the Peds surgeon. And she called over her shoulder to the other colleague. "Callie, you'll follow me?"

"Yeah." Callie answered as she turned to the other side of the parking lot.

"Callie is not coming with us?" Arizona asked when she got in Meredith's black SUV. She got a smirk in return.

"She doesn't have a lot of chance to drive her baby. You know she lives just across the street." Meredith pointed to the building not too far away from them before pulling the car out of her parking space. "She won't pass on the chance to take it out for a spin."

They stopped by the exit of the parking lot for a while. Finally Meredith started the engine again after seeing a car came close to them from the side mirror. Arizona whirled her head to take a peek.

"Whoa!" An exclamation left her lips before she could stop herself. There was a sky blue vintage mustang convertible following them. And on the driver seat, there was the Ortho goddess Callie Torres, in her leather jacket.

"Hot, right?" Meredith cast a glance to her passenger with a lopsided smile.

"What? I- I- I don't..." Arizona turned around and sat up straight, a deep blush found the way on her cheeks and she couldn't find a word in her embarrassing mind.

"I'm talking about the car. You should see Derek's face every time he sees that car. You have no idea how many times he's begged Callie to let him drive it." The General resident made a show to peek at the mustang behind her from the rear-view mirror. "Well, the driver is pretty hot too. She's like really sexy, almost dirty hot."

"Excuse me?" The blonde looked at the woman next to her with wide eyes. They knew each other slightly over a month but only limited in exchanging a hello and good day when they met in the hallway. She didn't know riding together would involve to a conversation about... how hot Callie was.

"Don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of penis, but I'm not blind. I do know how to appreciate a sexy woman." Meredith let out a few laughers. "No offense."

"None taken." This is gonna be a long day, Arizona said to herself. She decided to change to a safer topic. "You started your internship in here?"

"Yeah. Me, Cristina and Alex were from the same class."

"You three seem close."

"Well, Bailey was our resident. We needed to stick together to survive." Meredith sighed softly. "Actually it was five of us. There were George and Izzie. We were all good friends before they left."

"Oh, they failed the exam, or they got a better offer from somewhere?"

"A lot of reasons. But I think mostly because they couldn't stand the pointing and judgment from people after what they did to Callie." Meredith stopped the car behind the red light. She explained after meeting a pair of questioning eyes from the blonde. "George cheated on Callie with Izzie."

"Callie told me something about that." Arizona nodded slowly, putting two and two together. "George was the intern who was shorter than her and failed the intern exam."

"Bailey was disappointed in them, and Cristina was mad because she and Callie got along very well." Meredith started the car again, and continued with the story. "Callie is a good person, she doesn't deserve that. She helped me out of a couple of embarrassing moments even though I was closer to Izzie at the time. Long story short, we became good friends ever since. And I'm glad she's back."

"Why did she leave?" Arizona took the chance to ask the question she had for a few weeks, but she couldn't get an answer before Meredith pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket.

"She had a fight with the former chief." Meredith answered before got out of the car. The blonde followed before Callie parked her car right next to them. The resident tilted her head toward the brunette who was getting out of her mustang. "Ask her."

"Ask me what?" Callie walked up to her colleagues as they entered the supermarket together. Meredith didn't answer but walked a couple steps ahead of the others to get a shopping cart, leaving the blonde to smack her head mentally for choosing the wrong time to pry into the gossip.

"Meredith said it is nice to have you back. I just asked her if she knew why you left." Arizona said with reddening cheeks.

"I told her you had a fight with Webber." Meredith interjected without look back at them. She was busy reading the grocery list.

"Oh that." Callie stared at her companion a couple more seconds too long. She just couldn't take her gaze away from the adorably shy face in front of her. "I... I had a bad day. And the chief wanted me to hold my attending position application a while longer because the other Ortho attending refused to retire. We got into a fight and I was like... well, I don't need to take this. So I quit."

"When did that happened?" Arizona tried to ask as nonchalant as she could.

"A little while before the merger." Callie shrugged and took a few steps forward to join her friend with the shopping cart. She couldn't let the blonde know it was an Arizona induced hangover that made her stormed out of the chief's office.

The three of them quickly filled up the shopping cart with light chatting here and there, nothing really serious. And after went to the restaurant picking up the cooked dishes, they got into their respective cars and headed to Meredith's house.

"You know, I have to say I'm really glad that there has not been any awkwardness between you and Callie." Meredith glanced at the blonde. "I don't really know what happened between you two... Screw it! I'm not good at lying. I know the thing between you and Callie."

"You mean..." Arizona was confused, but realization slowly showed on her face. "Terrific."

"I've told you, Callie and I are good friends, that woman has no filter on her mouth. Besides, I saw the kissing at the party." Meredith shrugged. "I've heard you talk to the sobbing man in the waiting room. Do you believe the thing you said?"

"I- I don't know." Arizona took a deep breath. She was not ready for this talk.

"It's not my business to interfere with you and Callie. But as someone who's known her for nearly 5 years, I can tell you that she's worth it. She's genuine, and caring. You can't find another one who has a bigger heart than hers." Meredith said sincerely. "Big enough to love both men and women."

The blonde didn't answer. She looked out of the window deep in her thought. Finally, her gaze landed on the side mirror, watching the image of the car behind them.

"It's not that easy." Arizona sighed. She twisted her lips and looking at the driver. "I burnt the bridge. I tried to call her a week after the birthday party but she was out of reach. I blew my chance. I don't know if she'll let me in again."

"Just try." Meredith gave her new colleague a smile of encouragement before pulling her car into the driveway.

It took the three of them two trips to unload everything from the cars. After all, it was a dinner for 16 people. And knowing their friends, a fair amount of alcohol will be needed.

The turkey, ham, lambs and some hot dishes were made by the restaurant. But the women decided to make some side dishes and salad by themselves. 'By themselves' it meant Callie. The other two women were no help in the kitchen. Meredith opened a bottle of wine while she and Arizona sat by the kitchen table watching the brunette dice the food and stir the wok. Conversation flew easily when they were all surgeons and had stories to share.

"So Arizona, how is the apartment hunting?" Meredith asked after the blonde showed her admiration of the space of the house. Even thought she just got the chance to see the living room and the kitchen.

"You're looking for a place?" Callie chipped in absentmindedly. She had finished the preparation and busy putting away the dirty cook wares.

"Well yeah. I live in the other side of the town, think I should move closer to my new job. That may save me at least half an hour in the traffic." Arizona answered the brunette, then she turned to the owner of the house. "No luck yet. Besides, it's so busy at work, I don't really have time to start searching."

"If you want, you can move in here." Meredith offered, and she went on before the blonde could interrupt her. "I have plenty of rooms upstairs."

"Maybe it's not a good idea. I don't want to crowd you and Derek." Arizona took a sip of the wine. She didn't think living in the house with her boss and the wife would be a good idea.

"You see how big this house is? I'm used to have people live with us. Alex has lived here since intern year. Lexie takes the room in the attic but she spends most nights at Mark's now." The resident tilted her head to the ceiling as she was recalling the people who lived in her house over the years. "Jackson and April lived here before they moved in together. And before them, Izzie and George had their rooms. Oh, Callie lived here for a brief period too."

"You did?" Arizona turned to look at the brunette. She missed it when Meredith bit her tongue with a wry face.

"Yeah, about a month with George." Callie answered after took a gulp of her drink. "Everything's ready. I just have to put the pies in the oven later. I'm going to the front porch to sit for a while. Cooking is making me flushed."

"Sure." Meredith answered with a timidly smile. She and Arizona watched the brunette fill up her glass and disappear behind the back door.

"Is she... mad?" Arizona stared at the door, turned around in time to see Meredith shaking her head.

"I don't know, maybe. We don't really talk about her and George because their relationship ended quite badly. She came back early from an overnight shift and found George and Izzie together in bed in Izzie's room." Meredith thought for a second and she had an idea. Refilling Arizona's glass with a small smile, she gestured the guest to follow Callie. "Go see how she is doing. Have a talk. She won't be able to stop herself once she starts talking. Take the time to rebuild the bridge."

Arizona stared at Meredith with her mouth slightly agape. She wasn't sure if she should disturb Callie when clearly the woman wanted to have some alone time. But on the other hand, a small voice in her head telling her that she should go accompany the brunette, despite if she was welcomed or not.

"Just go. I'm going to change into a pretty dress to play my role as the wife of the chief." Meredith saw the hesitation and decided to give a little push. She called over her shoulder before exiting the kitchen. "Oh by the way, my offer still stands. Actually Derek is building us a new house, he and I will move to there soon. I'll let you call dips on the master bedroom if you want."

Passed through the same door, Arizona found Callie was sitting on the swing bench by the front door looking at afar.

"May I join you?" She asked softly. Callie didn't even startle, still looking straight ahead, she pursed her lips and nodded.

The November weather in Seattle was a little chilled but the setting sun made it comfortable to be sitting outside. The two women sat side by side, shoulder against shoulder on the 2 seated bench enjoying the twitter of birds in the quiet neighborhood for a while. It took all of the energy for Callie not to lead her head on the blonde's shoulder, nuzzling the soft skin and breathing in the scents that she desperately wanted to experience again. But she wasn't allowed to, so she sighed.

"Meredith told me about… George and Izzie. I'm sorry." Hearing the sigh, Arizona said to the brunette softly. She took a deep breath while studying the exquisite face next to her. Those pair of luscious, alluring, moist and voluptuous lips were just inches away and she was mesmerized, she almost missed the words coming out from those lips when Callie started to talk.

"I just… don't want to hear about it. Reminding me how stupid I was. It's not like I still have feelings for George. After all, it was over 2 years ago. But you just can't get over being cheated on easily." Callie chuckled sarcastically. "Especially when we're all living in the same house. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do." The blonde smiled and looked away. She needed to get a hold of herself. She had no idea if Callie still has feeling for her after she bailed the last time. "You wanna talk about something else, or we can just sit here watching the cars pass by in silence?"

Callie let out a few laughers. Actually, she wouldn't mind just sitting there the whole night doing nothing but have the blonde next to her. She turned to face the blonde, felt a pang to the heart seeing the blue eyes before her shining under the sunset. She had to remind herself that Arizona didn't like her the way she wanted it to be. Arizona didn't want her. Pressing down the burning desire of kissing those tantalizing pink lips, she cleared her throat.

"So, you are the head of the department now. How are you holding up?" Right, talk about work. That was always the safe subject.

"Busy." Cream face twisted to an elvish smile. "I basically ran the department in Mercy West myself, but being the actual department head here is totally another level of busyness. Sometimes I just feel like I don't know what I am doing."

"You'll figure it out. You will." Callie gave the blonde a heartfelt smile with a wink. She meant to make it playful but it came out flirtier than she intended to. Luckily, Arizona didn't seem offended.

"Thanks." Arizona dropped her gaze to the plants before them. Her mind was racing and she could feel her heart was beating faster than it should. This was crazy. She and Callie only went on one date and had a night together. Addition to the unpleasant meeting at Joe's, they didn't really spend a lot of time together but Arizona found she missed the brunette desperately. No matter how hard she lied to herself, seeing Callie again had opened the box of feelings that she locked tight in her heart. She couldn't remember when was the last time she felt the temperature raised around her in a split second just by a flirty wink.

When there had buffers like the surgical team or Meredith around them, Arizona could still hold it at bay. But now, they were here sitting side by side and alone, the feelings were flooding out and she knew she needed to tell Callie that she was ready. She needed to tell Callie that she was not going to let the fear take over her, just like what she told Cam.

Callie took Arizona's silence as being offended by the playful wink. She sighed again.

"Listen, Arizona. I don't want to have any awkwardness between us. I came out too strong and put you on the spotlight, I am sorry." She pulled her lips to a tight smile. This wasn't easy but she had to deliver this speech. "You'd think you'd learned after a mistake but apparently I didn't. I pursued George and moved in with him even though he didn't feel the same for me. And I tried to do the same to you."

Arizona was stunned. Callie went on before she knew how to react.

"I promise you that I won't make it difficult for you anymore. We can just pretend nothing happened and move on, ok? I really hope we can be friends."

"Callie, I have to..." Arizona stared at the brown eyes with open mouth. She wanted to tell Callie that it wasn't a mistake and she did feel the same for her. But before she collected enough courage, going to tell the brunette that she didn't want them to be just friends, she was distracted by 2 cars pulling into the driveway. There was Derek got out of the car with a big smile when he spotted his house guesses on the swing bench, with Mark and Lexie right behind him. In the meantime, Teddy got out of her boyfriend Henry's car.

"Hey Callie, Arizona." Derek greeted the two women with a kiss of the cheek. "Meredith told me you help with the dinner. Thank you."

Arizona smiled to him politely. After all, she was still a new comer of this hospital family. However, Callie on the other hand, rolled her eyes to the Chief of surgery.

"You know your wife better than anyone. Telling her to make dinner, you gave me no choice but to come to help."

Derek roared with laughter, with Mark smirked behind him. The new arrival exchanged greetings on the front porch before Derek gestured everyone to enter the house. Teddy shifted closer to her best friend when she found the hidden melancholy behind the blue eyes.

"What's wrong?" Teddy whispered into the blonde's ear. Arizona just shook her head and fixed her gaze to the long hair brunette walking in front of her, who was laughing with Derek.

"No way, for the hundredth time, no one is allowed to drive my baby except me."

* * *

Few more guests arrived in the house in the coming half an hour, the women were in the kitchen chit chatting and the men were in the living room talking about football and cars. They were waiting for the few of their colleagues finished up surgeries to come join them.

After a while, the big groups shifted to several smaller ones. Meredith, Cristina and Lexie were still in the kitchen talking about hospital gossips and stealing foods from time to time. Derek leaded Owen, Henry and his father-in-law to his study showing off the blue print of the house he was building. Arizona dragged Teddy to the corner of the living room engaging in a conversation with the volume that only the two could hear. Mark carried two bottles of beer and pushed Callie out of the house to the swing bench so they could catch up.

"How was LA?" Mark asked his best friend between sipping his beer. Callie returned yesterday afternoon and Mark was stuck in the night shift. It was the first time the two had a face to face conversation ever since Callie took off to LA two days after she quitted the job.

"LA... was great." Callie sighed in her beer bottle. "Maybe I shouldn't have come back."

"Don't ever think about that. We need you here. I need you here." Mark glared at the brunette from the corner of his eyes. "It was so boring without you. I missed you when I watched Webber come back to clear his office with the tail between his legs. Derek was like 'oh don't go bother the man'."

"Don't be so mean. He was a good chief. He made mistakes it doesn't mean he's a bad guy." Callie gave the man a nudge that made him yelped when he spilt the beer.

"Whatever, he's in rehab now." The plastic surgeon flung off the spilt liquid on his hand. "Why would you say you shouldn't have come back? Someone said something to you?"

"You know why." The brunette rolled her eyes to the dark sky. If anyone who knew the reason, Mark would be the one.

"Blondie? Still?" Mark's voice rose up a few notes. "I thought the 5 weeks in LA would wash off any feelings you have for her."

"I thought so too. But seeing her again... I don't know, I have butterflies." Callie rubbed her face with her free hand furiously. She was a hardcore, badass Ortho surgeon. She should be able to handle a little butterfly... The problem was the one in her stomach was as big as Texas. "I just told her I want us to be friends. But to be honest, I don't even sure I can do it. How can I see her everyday and pretend that I don't... have the butterflies?"

"God, you're such a girl." Mark took a swag of his beer with a smirk. The brunette lifted her head to protest loudly.

"I am a girl!"

"I mean you're like a teenage girl pinning for the football captain even though he... she keeps saying she doesn't like you." Mark stared at his friend with sympathy in his eyes. Callie dropped her head in her hands with a groan.

"What am I gonna do?" The brunette whined in her hands. A big hand placed on her back offering some consolations.

"Be honest with her, tell her how you feel?"

"Nope, the ball was in her court and she let it slide. I can't keep pushing her and make it awkward. I don't want to scare her, thinking I'm some kind of clingy psycho." Callie leaded her head on Mark's shoulder with a pout. "I just told her I want us to be friends, she couldn't even answer that."

The man extended his arm to wrap around the beaten woman tightly. The two sat on the swing bench without a word for a while. Suddenly, Mark remembered there was something he needed to ask.

"What happened to your phone? You said Addison tossed it in the water?"

"I almost drunk dialed Arizona the second night after I arrived there. Addison took it and ran out to the beach, threw it in the ocean as far as she could." Callie answered with a chuckle.

"That's my girl." Mark grinned, watching the rest of the party companies arrived with their cars.

* * *

"I am going to tell her, Teddy." Arizona leaned closer to her friend saying in a whisper. Teddy pulled back and stared at her with big round eyes.

"Are you sure? I mean, are you sure you are done with your stubbornness? The whole 'I don't fall for straight woman' rule?"

"There's no rule. I was just... not ready, ok? Right there at the porch, she told me she wants us to be friend. I was going to tell her that I missed her and want to have a second chance. Something more than just friends. And then you guys showed up ruined my moment." Arizona pouted. She was pleased that they were the only one in the living room so nobody heard the exclamation from the loud woman.

"It took you long enough to pull your head out of your butt." Teddy sat back on the coach and crossed her legs, smirking at the timid blonde with a satisfied smile. She knew she was right, sooner or later Arizona would admit that her mood swing was due to the repressed feelings she had toward the woman who was perfect for her.

"It was out a while ago. I... I had tried to call her." The blonde toyed with the glass in her hands. She was too embarrassed to look at her friend, without a doubt staring at her in surprise. "The day I decided to take this job, but her phone was off. You ended the thing with Mark then you couldn't get me any news about her. And the people in the hospital didn't even mention her like she was never existed. What was I suppose to do when I couldn't get a hold of her?"

"We tried not to talk about Callie when you were around. We thought you didn't want to hear anything about her. You know, she kissed you and you pushed her away."

"I didn't push her away! I was just... scared." Arizona stared at the whirl she made in her glass with a dreamy smile. "You know I need time to process. I thought I'd get over her eventually when she was not around, but seeing her again, hearing her voice, her laugh..."

"You have to talk to her. Finding the one who can make you smile like an idiot only by mentioning her laugher is a one in a million chance." Teddy smiled to her friend softly. They both lifted her heads to the doorway when a belly laugh passed through the front door with Callie and Bailey entering side by side.

"Yes, I'm going to tell her." Arizona breathed out. "I'm gonna tell her I want us to be more than friends."

* * *

"No way. No freaking way." Cristina exclaimed with her mouthful of ham.

"I'm telling you, Robbins really liked Callie." Meredith said animatedly before shoving another piece of ham into her mouth.

"You mean like her 'like' her, or like her as a co-worker?" The Asian washed down the food with a gulp of wine. "Callie said blondie made it clear that she didn't want to be with someone who likes penis."

"Maybe she finally figured out Callie likes penis as much as she likes vagina" Meredith mumbled and shrugged. Her sister stopped her hands from decorating the plate and glanced at the two half drunken women.

"Can we stop talking about penis and vagina?"

"Why? I think it sounds pretty." The older Grey giggled with her best friend. Little Grey sighed, she should know better that there was no way to stop the inappropriate vocabularies when the two were together.

"But how do you know? Robbins told you?" Lexie asked after the giggle subsided.

"I overheard she talked to the patient's parent something about loving someone is not about the gender. She must have an epiphany or something, right? Otherwise, how could she make a speech like that?" Meredith shrugged again and put another piece of ham in her mouth. "This thing is really good, I can't stop."

"Like you can believe the crap came out of that woman." Cristina scooped the mash potato with her finger and put it into her month. "She calls her patients the tiny humans and says there is fairy dust in their IV bags. I bet she tells people she vomits rainbows."

"No, I know I'm right. You haven't seen the way she looked at Callie. She wants her." Meredith followed suit to scoop the mash potato. She wasn't fast enough to take her finger out of her mouth before a scold entering the kitchen.

"Don't tell me you just had your claw dipped in those potatoes!" Bailey looked at the three women in the kitchen with her famous Bailey glare. "You invited people over for dinner and going to serve the food when your dirty hands have been all over it?"

"Oh my god, where is the ham?" Callie looked over her shorter friend's head and found the plate of ham on the kitchen table was half empty.

"You're late and we're hungry, what are we supposed to do?" Cristina hopped off the table, mumbled under her breath as she snuck out of the room. Bailey groaned after her.

"You're not hungry, you're drunk."

"That's true, but we actually are hungry." The house owner squinted back at the glare with her head tilted up slightly. This was her turf and this was her food, she was not afraid of her former resident. Also, she had enough alcohol in her system. "Should we start?"

The men came in the kitchen and helped bring the dishes to the table, and the women started pouring wine into the glasses. It took a moment to arrange the seats because Meredith had a last minute adjustment. She found it would be a good idea in her slightly intoxicated mind.

Derek was at the top of the table, of course. Meredith and her father on either sides of him. Lexie was sitting between her father and Mark, and then Callie, Bailey, Ben, and April. On the other side, she had Cristina by her side, next to Owen, and then Arizona, Teddy, Henry and Jackson. Alex was sitting at the other end of the table.

Yes, she put Callie and Arizona right opposite to each other.

Derek looked around the table with a proud smile. The hospital was going under a change in his hands, and he had the best staffs anyone could hope for. They were not just co-workers, they were friends. They were family.

"Hey, that would be great. The food cabinets are empty ever since April shacked up with Jackson." Alex called out with a turkey leg in his mouth. "It would be nice to have a woman in the house to do the grocery run."

"We are not shacking up." April protested with a deep shade of red on her cheeks.

"Right, you're not shacking up because Jesus wouldn't allow it." Bailey cut in, made everyone round the table giggle.

"I- I..." April stuttered. She looked across the table seeing Jackson looking down on his plate hiding his blush. "Jackson and I are just roommates. That's all. What I want to say is if you want to have food in the house, go buy it yourself."

"I'm a man. Men don't do groceries." The young resident shrugged, earning himself a roar of boo from every woman in the room.

"Dr. Robbins, you really need to think twice before you decide to live with him. He is a pig." The redhead said to the new attending. Teddy answered for her friend.

"Don't worry, she thinks about everything at least twice." Teddy's wry response made the blonde almost choked on the wine. After throwing a subtle death glare to the woman sitting next to her, she nodded to April.

"Thanks for the advice. I'll think it through."

"If you don't want to live in a house with Alex, you can move in with Callie." Cristina brought up her suggestion indifferently. Everyone stopped and stared at her. "What? She hasn't found a new roommate since I moved out. She needs someone to live with her to make sure she wouldn't pass out in the bathroom."

A silence low five exchanged between the twisted sisters under the table.

"Excuse me!" Callie raised her voice to her ex-roommate. "I have never passed out in the bathroom."

"Because you had a roommate." Meredith stated matter-of-factly. She leaned forward looked pass the few seats between her and Arizona. The blonde was holding a glass to hide her abashment.

Derek chose this time to rise his glass.

"Everyone, everyone. I would like to make a toast." He cleared his throat. "First of all, happy thanksgiving. I would like to take this chance to thank you all for helping me to make the transition as smooth as it could. I know we've had a rocky few months. Mistakes have been made, but I believe we will be able to right those wrongs and make this hospital the best hospital in this side of the country. And I would like to welcome Dr. Altman and Dr. Robbins to join our family. And Dr. Torres, welcome home."

Everyone cheered and finished up their glasses.

"Torres, do you know King from St. Ambrose called me yesterday?" Derek asked Callie while filling up his wife's glass. "She is a real charmer."

"Charlotte? What does she want?" The brunette raised her eyebrows. She had no idea what made the Chief of St. Ambrose in LA called the Chief of SGMW in Seattle.

"She wants you. She was angry at me for convincing you to come back here." Derek chuckled. "She said if I ever let you go again, I have to call her so that she can snatch you under her wings."

"What was that about?" Bailey frowned to the brunette. Mark pulled Callie back against her seat so he could look at the short woman to answer.

"Oh she didn't tell you? She almost got the job in St. Ambrose and never came back."

"She did what?" The General attending screamed into Callie's ear making her flinched. "St. Ambrose is a small hospital, why the hell do you want to go there?"

"Not a job in St. Ambrose." Callie rolled her eyes. "Addison wants me to join her private practice. And since St. Ambrose is connected to the practice, I'd been working in there too."

"Don't ever think about it. We need you here." Bailey gave her friend a squint before went back to her meal. Mark exclaimed with a grin.

"I said the same thing."

"But how about the money? I've heard private practice pays better." Alex asked, got a Bailey glare and a silent curse from Mark. "What? I'm just asking a practical question."

"Money doesn't mean everything, Karev. I know it must be a difficult decision, thank you Callie." Derek interrupted before this conversation went out of hands. As a boss, he really didn't want to hear his staffs talking about the paycheck.

"To be honest, it was hard to leave LA. I lived with Addison and her house is right next to the beach, I have the most relaxed time in years." Talked about the time in LA brought a broad smile on Callie's face. "Addison took some time off to show me around. I really missed being with her."

"Lived right by the beach, no wonder you look so tanned." Teddy really admired the healthy grow on the olive skin. And she knew her best friend did too.

"Thanks. I think the benefit of living next to the bench is you can spend a lot of time on the patio in your bikini..." She turned to smack at the giggling man next to her. "Wipe that dirty smirk off of your face. Stop picturing me and Addison in bikini."

Everyone laughed at the man. Except one.

Meredith stood up announcing that she was going to get the pies out of the oven, Arizona jumped up from the chair offering to help.

A naughty idea flashed across Mark's mind. Arizona was sitting on the other side of the table right in front of him, he didn't miss the way that woman looking at his best friend the whole night. If he was right, this is gonna be fun.

"Hey, I haven't seen Addison for a long time. Has she changed? Did you take any picture with her when you were there?" He asked casually, and the few of the people around the table who knew Addison echoed.

"Oh yes, I have it in my phone. I'll go get it." Callie shot up from the seat, strode to the living room to get her purse.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Mark leaned closer to the table whispering to the rest of dinner guests.

"Listen, follow my lead. And Teddy, I know Arizona is your best friend, but don't say a word."

"Oh they smell good!" Meredith sniffed deeply while opening the oven. "What pies did we get again?"

"Apple pie, pecan pie and pumpkin pie." Arizona answered abstractedly. She had a question in her head and trying to figure out how to bring it up.

"Why do we have 3 pies? God, I'm going to have a load of leftover. Alex is not going to complain we don't have foods in the house in a while." The house owner turned to reach for the oven mitts. She saw the fidgety look on the pale face and asked. "What's wrong?"

"Umm..." Arizona played with the kitchen towel on the counter, tried to look as easy as possible. "Who is Addison that they are talking about?"

"Addison Montgomery." Meredith gave a short answer as she was trying not to drop the hot pie on the floor. She almost failed when the blonde let out a quiet scream.

"Addison Montgomery, THE Addison Montgomery?"

"You know her?"

"No, but I've heard about her." Of course, the world class neonatal surgeon with double board certifications in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal and Fetal medicine, every pediatric surgeon had read her articles. Arizona didn't know how she could've forgotten that Montgomery worked in Seattle Grace for years.

"Addison was working in the hospital until she moved to LA about a year ago. She and Callie are friends, so I guess that was why she went to LA instead of going back to her parents in Miami." Meredith went on to take the other pies out. Arizona took a knife started to cut the one on the table, but her mind was else where.

"Are they... close?"

"Yeah, they were inseparable. Callie and I didn't really talk much at that time. As far as I know, she and Addison are very close. They went out together. Drinking, dancing... Once I've heard that they went to yoga class in the early morning together." The tall blonde put the other 2 pies on the table. She braced herself against the table watching her new colleague working with the kitchen knife. "Think about it... If Callie has known she likes women, she and Addison would make a cute couple."

"But they were not really a couple...?" Arizona asked uncertainly, picked up a pie following the other woman out of the kitchen.

"No, they weren't. Callie didn't like vagina at the time." Meredith laughed over her shoulder.

But... she liked it very much that night. A deep furrow found the way to Arizona's forehead.

"Derek, you let the kids play with their cellphones on the table?" Meredith teased her husband referring Mark holding up a cellphone with Callie and Bailey's heads nestled up close to it.

"Callie's showing us the pictures she took in LA with Addison." The Plastic surgeon answered with exclamation. He didn't forget to glance at the blonde coming closer to the table.

"Why do we have so many pies?" Derek asked, seeing the two women delivered the three pies.

"Meredith ordered a pumpkin pie but Arizona doesn't like pumpkin, so I ordered one more." Callie interjected quickly, and then went back on the phone in Mark's hand. "We took this one before we entered the club."

The trio kept scrolling the pictures, no one saw the small smile on Arizona's face. She mentioned that she hated pumpkin to Callie on their date. She didn't know the brunette would remember it. But the smile fell quickly.

"Why were there all women in there?" Mark asked after scanning a few more pictures. Callie laughed out.

"That was an all women club..."

"A chick bar?" Bailey asked with a mischievous smile. She tried very hard not to look at Arizona who just sat back on her seat.

"You can say that. Addison had a long surgery that day and didn't want to deal with guys who would come hitting on us, so she took me to an all women club." The brunette smiled in the memory, she reached for her drink. "That was a fun night."

"I bet it was. Look." Mark turned the phone around to show the picture to everyone around the table, especially to Arizona.

It was a picture of both Callie and Addison, apparently both had had a lot of drinks. They had their arms wrapped around each other and cheeks pressed tight together. Despite their intoxicated status and disheveled hair from possibly crazy dancing, Arizona had to admit that Addison looked gorgeous.

"Oh Derek, Addie called me this morning. She said she'll come to work on the case you asked." Callie talked to the man at the head of the table after she put down her water glass.

"That's great. Arizona, we'll have Addison helps with the quadruplet." Derek smiled to the Peds surgeon. Arizona opened her mouth in shock.

"I thought Nicole Herman is coming."

"Herman is on leave. Her hospital said she'll be out for a few months, so I asked Addison. I'm glad she can make it. Especially the due date is around Christmas, I thought she'd be busy partying."

"She said she's gonna party here. Arizona you're gonna love her, she is amazing." Callie took her eyes off the screen to smile to Arizona, but a squeal came out from Mark making her whirl and smack the man before the blonde could give a proper response. "Stop staring at our bikinis!"

Mark turned the phone again. Arizona didn't know she should drool or be jealous to see the brunette in a small red bikini showing off a large portion of her plump chests, with Addison in her black bikini sitting disturbingly close together.

Mark smirked openly seeing the colors on Arizona's face changed a few shades in a split second.

No party would last forever. Dinner in the dining room was served, coffee in the living room had finished, it was time to call it the night.

"Teddy, are you going home? Can you give me a lift? My car is still in the hospital." Arizona asked her friend across the room. But the Cardio surgeon looked at her boyfriend abashedly.

"I'm going to Henry's tonight." Henry lived on this side of the city. It'd take them an hour to go back and forth.

"We're too tired of driving to the other side of the city." Bailey said coldly. She was a surgeon, not a taxi driver.

"I think I should take my woman home before she slips in an alcohol induced coma." Owen looked at his drunken girlfriend.

"We walked here." Jackson and April's apartment was just 4 blocks away.

Mark held up his hands in surrender. He rode with Derek's car and he was not planning to leave Lexie's room tonight.

"I can take you home." Callie looked at the blonde.

"Oh... You don't have to. I- I can call a taxi." Arizona declined softly, but Meredith disagreed.

"No, I told you to leave the car at the hospital and I told you someone was going to take you home. Don't make me feel guilty. You go with Callie." The host stated adamantly.

"Or- or- You can drive me to the hospital so I can get my car, if that would be easier for you." The blonde tried again. Everyone around the living room was focusing on the interaction with their breaths held.

"You really shouldn't drive after that many glasses of wine." Callie shrugged and stood up from the couch. "Come on, let's go before it gets too late."

"Yeah, just go with her. I told you she won't pass a chance to drive her car." Meredith stood up as well, and gave the hesitant woman a little push toward the door. "And she doesn't let just anyone get in that baby, you're in for a treat."

Heading to the front door, Callie turned around to squint at her friend. And she looked passed the grinning woman, surprised to see the rest of the gang stayed in the seats and no one was planning to move yet. She opened her mouth wanted to ask, but Meredith had already opened the door and forced her and Arizona out of the door.

"Good night." "Drive safe." A few shouting came from the living room, but the door was closed before either of the women was able to answer.

"Do you think this is gonna work?" Meredith smiled as she walked back to her guests. Mark sneered aloud.

"Didn't you see blondie's face when I showed her the pictures? She was jealous, to her bone." A few nods from the rest of the people agreed with him. "I bet she's going to jump Callie on the highway, screwing her brains out reclaiming what she had thrown away."

"Mark! Robbins doesn't seem so... eager. I think she's going to invite Callie to her apartment to have a drink, so they can talk..." Lexie scolded her boyfriend. She was a romantic of course she was thinking in that direction. But a sarcastic laugh from Alex stopped her.

"No, I'll say she's totally going to screw her in the car." The man clinked his beer bottle with Mark's. The two shared a dirty smile. "You gaze into my eyes, I gaze into your eyes... next they know, the car is parked behind a gas station and shaking like crazy."

"I don't know." Teddy breathed out slowly, striking her boyfriend's hand as she was deep in her thought. "Yes, Arizona admitted to me that she wants a second chance with Callie. But she wouldn't do anything if she isn't 100% sure. I mean if Callie doesn't like her anymore, or if she thinks Callie is seeing someone else, I'm afraid she'll back away again."

"Don't worry about it." The Plastic surgeon smirked. "Callie is crazy about blondie. But she told me she couldn't do anything to pursue your stupid friend again because she told blondie that she can't be the one keep trying. So unless your friend comes around and makes a move, they are gonna stuck in where they are now. A little push is necessary."

"Just make sure you won't push it too hard, Mark. I hate to replace either the Ortho attending or the head of my Peds department." Derek gave his friend a warning glare.

However, the thing between the two women didn't go as their colleagues expected. Not only had there had been no gazing in the eyes, 10 minutes into the car ride, they hadn't exchanged more than 3 sentences.

Callie didn't say anything because she thought the blonde wasn't thrilled to be around her. And Arizona didn't open her mouth because she knew she wouldn't be able to stop herself from asking something that she had no business to ask.

"Do you want some music?" The driver asked after another 5 minutes of silence. The quietness was getting more and more uncomfortable. Maybe some music could help to ease it. She reached to the radio after getting a small nod.

She changed the channels a few times, finally settled on a soft and melancholy song. Fluid and sensuous piano flew in the air filling the silence.

"I like this song." Callie drummed her fingers on the steering wheel along with the melody. She sighed when she got no response.

Everything went well in the afternoon. They talked and joked, liked they had put the date, the passionate evening and the argument at Joe's behind them. Even though it was difficult, Callie was glad that she could hide her desire for the blonde until she had to bring it up and asking if they could be friends.

Now, they took a big step backward to the awkwardness and she didn't know what to do. She stepped on the gas harder, subtly trying to bring the blonde home quicker so they could put this evening to an end.

Only if she knew what was Arizona having in her mind.

She should be delighted to have this chance to be alone with Callie. And she should tell Callie that she really liked her. She should tell Callie that she tried to call her and devastated when she thought she would never have a chance to see her again.

But she didn't know if she would be allowed to say such things. Because, she thought, she was too late.

Listening to the song in the air, she took a deep breath. Yes, she knew this song, and she liked this song too.

_So go on, live your life_  
_So go on and say goodbye_  
_So many questions but I don't ask why_  
_Maybe someday but not tonight_  
_Hush hush now_

Hush. That was what she was doing.

No, Arizona wouldn't go down without a fight. She was taught by her father to fight for the thing she wanted. At least, not until someone had called the time of death.

"So..." Arizona trailed off, trying to ask as nonchalant as possible. "You know Montgomery very well?"

Callie was surprised when the blonde started to talk. And she was surprised that she was asking about Addison. Breathed out a sigh of relief, maybe the silence was because Arizona was worried about the surgery that she is going to perform with Addison.

"Yes, Addison and I went way back when she was working in here." The brunette smile lovingly. "I've seen her in a lot of difficult surgeries. She is really talented, a brilliant surgeon."

"You like her? I mean... Do you..." In love with her? Are you two together now? Arizona wanted to ask, but Callie cut in quickly before she would stutter out the question.

"I trust her. I love her. She is my best friend. She's the best. The best surgeon you would even meet." Callie pulled the car to a stop when they reached their destination. She looked right at the blue eyes with a wide smile, hoping to show to the anxious woman that Addison Montgomery is the perfect surgeon to help her with her patient. "You'll know what I mean when you meet her."

Time of death, 10:45pm, outside her apartment building - Arizona heard the announcement in her head.


	4. Christmas party

Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.

A/N : Thanks for coming back for this story. This note is gonna be quick because I have 10 minutes to post it before I have to get on a plane. (I'm gonna miss the coming episode 11x14, wish Herman is gonna be ok) I like all the reviews about the previous chapters and thank you all for finding the story interesting to read.

Once again, thanks to my wonderful and amazing friend calzonaforever35 for helping with this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 4

The morale in the hospital had improved greatly ever since Derek Shepherd took over the position of the Chief of Surgery. Not that the former chief Richard Webber did the job poorly, but his relapse into alcoholism made him lose focus and clouded his judgment, affecting the performance of the staff members.

The new chief was determined to right the wrong, and bring the hospital back to the top ranking medical facility in the US. He encouraged the surgeons to take on more responsibilities, and think outside the box to exceed their limit. Everyone followed the order gladly even though the heavy workload made them a little wound up. After all, they were surgeons and there was nothing that would make them more thrilled than get a chance on a difficult surgery.

And they knew how to unwind.

In the olden days, the surgeons would head to Joe's without making plans in advance. They could always found a friend or two in there starting a drinking party until they forgot their own names by the end of the night. But things had changed lately. Not that they didn't go to Joe's anymore, but the core female surgeons found the joy of a good ladies night.

Bailey was the first to propose having a nice dinner instead of a binge drinking contest. After all, she wasn't so fond of being in a pub with a bunch of drunken colleagues. Teddy seconded it. Later on, dinner evolved to bowling, baseball batting, movie at Bailey's... Whenever Bailey, Teddy, Callie, Arizona, Lexie, sometimes with Meredith and Cristina, had an early night off, they went for a ladies night.

Things between Callie and Arizona seemed neutral on the surface. They acted friendly around each other. Their friends didn't know if anything had happened after the thanksgiving dinner, but one thing for sure was that the two women didn't express their true feelings toward the other. It left the nosey people frustrated for a while. But life went on especially in a busy hospital, every day another scandal appeared that grasped the attention in the gossip mall, such as Bailey's boyfriend almost engaging in a fist fight with her ex-boy toy, or Mark's secret love child showing up unannounced, or Owen and Cristina falling in a cold war about children.

No one had time to recall the little stunt they pulled during the thanksgiving dinner.

It was a blessing, to both Callie and Arizona.

The friendship between them blossomed quickly over the past three weeks. The brunette kept her adoration towards the buoyant and optimistic PEDS surgeon to herself, not even to Mark who was busy dealing with his suddenly discovered 18 year old daughter and an insecure 25 year old girlfriend.

On the other hand, Arizona had to remind herself that Callie was with someone else. She lost her chance to be with this confident, amusing and charming Latina. She should be content with being her friend.

That's what they were doing, being friends.

However, the chemistry between them was over the chart. They could easily pick up one another's mind. Their eyes always followed the other wherever they went. A smile would be induced just by mentioning the name of the other woman. An innocent hug after Callie hit the baseball or a playful caress on the back when Arizona threw the bowling ball into the gutter could always bring a shiver to their bodies.

And they were like the opposite poles of magnets attracting each other. Without noticing, they were always sitting next to the other during meetings, lunch in the cafeteria, couch in Bailey's living room, or like now, relaxing in the attending lounge together with their colleagues.

"It sucks." Bailey groaned after passing the bottle of Brandy to her colleagues across the little table between them. "2 hours on the table and I still couldn't stop the bleeding."

"Mine arrested twice, and I couldn't bring him back after the third time." Teddy sighed, pouring the brown liquor into her plastic cup.

"Ours wasn't so good either." Callie turned to look at the woman sitting next to her with a twist on the lips. "The boy almost bled out on the table and I could hardly put his leg back together."

"But you fixed it, Callie." Arizona returned the look with a small smile. "The ex fix is gonna hold and you didn't have to cut it off. It is amazing."

There was a major traffic accident downtown and caused many casualties. Seattle Grace Mercy West as a grade 1 trauma center, they took in most of the injured. The surgeons were on their feet since the afternoon, and now it was almost midnight, they were all beat.

"I know we should be glad that we were here saving lives, but am I the only one who's upset that we don't get to go dancing?" The cardio surgeon pouted at her work friends. They were supposed to have another ladies night. Since they all had a day off the next day, Arizona proposed to go to a club and everyone was excited about that. A flipped over container truck on the highway wrecked their plan.

"I told Ben that I was going to learn sasha dancing from you." Bailey pointed a finger to the brunette on the couch with sternness. "And then I am going to show him my moves. He'll be disappointed when I get home."

The rest of the women let out a roar of laugher. Callie picked up the bottle on the table and refilled her friend's cup with a smirk.

"Don't worry, Bailey. We'll pick another night and I'm going to teach you how to shake your hips."

Arizona stared at Callie's back when the curvy body leaned over the table to reach for the cup of Bailey's. She swallowed hard imagining the movement on those hips, and she found her cheeks were getting warm.

"How about after tomorrow?" Teddy asked eagerly, she really wanted to go dancing. "Henry's team is still on tour, I'm pretty free in this whole week."

"I can't." Arizona brought the plastic cup to her lips trying to hide her still flushing face. "I have the night shift. The day after."

"That's Friday, right?" Callie asked after settled back on the couch, looking at the blonde next to her. "Addison's coming. We have plans."

"The surgery isn't until Monday, why is she coming so early?" Arizona's face fell slightly, barely noticeable to anyone except for her best friend for 2 years.

"She cleared her schedule and actually has nothing to do from Friday, so she decided to come early and catch up with some friends in here." Callie smiled at the two new colleagues that hadn't met Addison before. "Addie is fantastic, you are gonna like her. Maybe we can arrange a ladies night together."

"That sounds great." Teddy answered for both her and the silent blonde. "It's getting late, we should go home and get some rest."

The four women got up and headed out the lounge together. Callie walked next to the blonde like every other time. She asked softly.

"Are you ok? You look tired. You really should find a place in the neighborhood. Being home 20 minutes quicker could mean a lot."

"I know. I have an appointment with a realtor tomorrow." Arizona sighed. They arrived in the locker room and went to their respectively lockers. She called over her friend in the other side of the room. "Teddy you coming with me tomorrow?"

"Sure." The tall blonde answered without looking. She was busy changing into her street clothes. "But I have an appointment in the morning, I'll see what time that'll be over. "

Callie bit her tongue went on changing her outfit. She wanted to offer help but she was just not sure it would be a good idea. Yes she spent a fair amount of time with Arizona, but it was always in the hospital or in the night with a bunch of other people. They hadn't gone out with the just two of them. She was afraid that asking to tag along will be unwelcome and offensive, so she just kept her mouth shut and watched the two blonde women get into a taxi and drive away.

"Why don't you go with Arizona tomorrow?" The brunette was startled when the shorter woman standing next to her asked the question. "You know the places around here and you can give her some insight."

Callie didn't answer the question. She just bit her lips and sighed heavily.

"You're still pinning for her, aren't you?" Bailey asked again, but she knew the answer.

"It's complicated, Bailey. She doesn't like me the way I want it to be." Callie opened the taxi door for her friend after another one pulled up. "I don't want to do anything to scare her. I'm happy to be her friend and I can't do anything to jeopardize it. It's just a feeling, and it'll pass."

"You're a fool, you know that?" Bailey cast a glare before settling in the back of the taxi.

"Good night, Bailey." The brunette closed the door with a bitter smile.

* * *

"Arizona?"

"Yeah?" Arizona answered with her eyes still closed. Callie was right, she was exhausted and resting her head against the back of the seat to catch some needed rest in this half an hour drive home.

"I know I'm occupied with Henry, and work. But I'm always here for you. You know that, right?" Teddy said sincerely. It made her friend's blue eyes pop open and staring at her.

"Of course I know that. What's wrong?"

"I just feel like we don't talk that much anymore. I'm a terrible friend." Teddy gave her friend an apologetic smile, but Arizona patted her hand on the seat with a smile.

"No, you're not terrible, Teddy." The blonde chuckled lightly. "You have a boyfriend. It's normal that you spend more time with him. I understand that."

"And you and Callie are still in the same place." Teddy sighed when she saw the dimpled smile freeze under the dim street light outside the taxi.

"That's fine, really. I don't feel that way about her anymore. It's fine." Arizona turned her head to the other side, looking out of the window trying to avoid the gaze from her friend. She was a good avoider. She didn't talk about her feelings towards Callie for weeks, and there had no point to bring it up now.

"No, it's not fine. I saw your face when she mentioned Addison..." The cardio surgeon shook her head with frustration, the woman sitting next to her interjected before she was able to finish the sentence.

"Really, Teddy, it's fine. That ship has sailed, and sank." The blonde kept her eyes on the view passing by them. "She's with Addison now, and I'm happy to be her friend."

"Arizona, Callie and Addison are not together." Teddy tried again. "They are..."

"Right, they're not together in the same city, but long distance works for some people." Arizona shrugged a shoulder, finally turned to look at her friend. "Didn't you see the big smile on her face?"

"She had the same smile when she's around you." Teddy said softly. And she smacked her own head mentally for not seeing this earlier. It is true that people in love are blind to the world.

"Forget it, Teddy." Arizona smiled to herself when a brilliant smile from Callie fleshed in her head. "I'm content with being her friend. And I'm happy with where we are now."

"Where you are now? Are you kidding me? You're nowhere!" Teddy slumped in the seat with a groan. "Don't tell me you don't like her. You're gonna be stuck in the freaking friend zone forever if you don't find the way out, and quick."

"If that's what its meant to be..." Arizona looked out of the window again, and sighed.

* * *

"Hey Mark, are you really not going to join us tonight? Addie misses you." Callie said to the plastic surgeon who was putting an apple in his mouth. The man answered with his mouth full.

"Nope, Sloan is coming for a check up. But I can meet her later. She's staying at your place, right?"

"Addison is staying with you?" Derek chipped in. "No wonder she said no need to book the hotel room for her."

"Yeah, I have a spare room. And we're probably gonna stay up drinking and catching up. She might as well stay with me." The brunette smiled sweetly, she missed the time spending with her best friend.

"Where are you two going tonight?" Mark asked absentmindedly. His eyes were following his girlfriend who gave him a cold stare and strode to the other side of the cafeteria. They had another fight about Mark's daughter Sloan again and it was not going well.

"That Italian restaurant few blocks away, your restaurant." Callie said. Her face lit up when a certain blonde PEDS surgeon came to the table and sat beside her.

Their usual lunch table already had a several fellow attendings seated. They didn't have a designated seat in general, but nobody knew since when, the place next to Callie was always reserved for Arizona, or vice versa.

"How was your day?" Arizona smiled to the brunette when she met with a broad grin. It never failed to make her heart skipped a beat, but she had to remind herself that this was a sociable smile. It looked so bright and beautiful because... well, Callie was bright and beautiful. "I heard that you rocked another surgery."

Before Callie could answer the question, Mark called out gently.

"Arizona?"

The blonde looked at the man in surprise. For the few months she worked in the hospital, Mark had never addressed her by her first name. It was always Robbins, or blondie.

"Yes?" Arizona frowned.

"My daughter is coming in this afternoon. She's pregnant and has never had a check up. Would you mind doing the ultrasound?" Mark scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He and Arizona hadn't exchanged any friendly conversation over the few months, mainly because he was still mad to the blonde for bailing on his best friend. But he needed the best for his daughter. Despite his dislike of this person, he did know how to appreciate a good hand when he saw one.

"Mark, you do know Arizona is a Pediatric surgeon, not an OB?" Teddy teased her former sex friend, but Mark didn't even flinch.

"I don't trust the new OB. Have you seen how young she is? I bet I've seen more vaginas than her." The man snorted loudly, ignoring the glare from the chief who hired the staff. "Who in here has seen as many vaginas as me?"

"Mark, I don't... umm... It has nothing to do with... umm..." Arizona's face turned to bright red. She didn't know if she should take this as a compliment that Mark trusted her better than the OB attending, or an insult. Mark interposed her stutter before Callie got a chance to scold him.

"No, I don't mean... I mean, I know you don't do the actual Obstetrical procedure. I just want you to do the ultrasound see if there is anything wrong with the baby." Mark pulled up his charming smile. "You're the best baby doctor I know. I just wanna say I trust you more than the new OB attending. Not that... you know."

"Mark you're shameless." Both Callie and Teddy gave the man a stink eye. The PEDS surgeon just chuckled and shook her head.

"Fine, page me when she gets here."

"How was the apartment hunting yesterday?" Callie brought up the question after Mark finished his thing. She was dying to know it since this morning, but she got called in early that missed her regular coffee cart meet with Arizona.

"No luck. I don't really like the places. They were either overpriced or too small." The blonde leaned closer to Callie's lunch and screwed up her face. "I should've ordered the lasagna, my salad looks really dry."

"I can cut you a piece." Callie put a big piece of her lasagna on Arizona's salad gladly. She flung off Mark's fort earlier but she really didn't mind to share it with Arizona.

"You're still looking for a place?" Mark was busy tracking his pissed off girlfriend with his eyes that he missed the exchange of the two women, but he whirled around when he picked up a part of the conversation. "I ran into the neighbor upstairs and I think the apartment above ours is available."

"Which one?" Callie asked.

"602. The obnoxious redhead finance consultant has finally moved out." The plastic surgeon said with a wink. He knew Callie hated that noisy woman that lived above her apartment.

"Whoa, that will be great if you got it Arizona. You said you wanna move closer, just across the street will be perfect." Teddy gave her friend a meaningful smile, not just because the apartment was closed to the hospital, also to Callie.

"I can make a call for you if you want to. I know the landlord and I think he will be happy to lease it to a doctor." Mark's face spread to a grin again. He was happy that he may help Arizona with the apartment. In return, he believed the blonde doctor would take good care of his daughter.

He didn't know both Arizona and Callie were sending a silent prayer to the god above, wishing Mark could get it done and Arizona would move in to the same building, and soon.

Later in the afternoon, the head of PEDS department was paged to the OB wing as expected. She arrived in the exam room found a young girl was already lying on the table and her father was standing next to her checking out the machine in the room. He turned around as soon as Arizona announced her arrival.

"Hey Arizona, thanks for doing this." Mark smiled to the doctor. He was nervous and also excited to see his grandkid on the monitor for the first time. "This is my daughter, Sloane."

"Sloane Sloan?" Arizona laughed out involuntarily. She wasn't as nosy as the others in the hospital, so she didn't really know the story of Mark and the girl on the table.

"Long story." The tall man waved his hand nonchalantly, now was not the time to go into details. He watched his colleague putting on the gloves and gown. "Oh hey, I've talked to the landlord I mentioned earlier. The place is yours if you want it. I'll give you his number later."

"Oh that's great. Thank you Dr. Sloan." Arizona flashed the man a dimpled smile. She had been looking for apartments for months but she couldn't find one that she liked. She remembered Callie's place and the one right above hers should have the same lighting and space, that would be perfect especially it's just 5 minutes away from the hospital. Not in a million years that she would imagine it would be the least friendly man in her new job got it for her. Maybe Teddy was right, Mark was a sweet guy.

"I'm glad to help. So now, do my daughter." Mark corrected himself after received a grimace from his colleague and soon to be new neighbor. "I mean, do the ultrasound and stuff."

The exam went on with some light chatting. Arizona was surprised to find the nerdy daddy side of Mark, especially when he squinted at the monitor and found something interesting.

"Is that... his little thing?" Rough bushy eyebrows raised up to his forehead, Mark couldn't contain his excitement. But there was something else that caught Arizona's attention.

* * *

Two gorgeous and classy women entered the restaurant side by side grasped the attention of every diner in the place. That was Addison's favorite part of going out to a fancy restaurant, not that she was a vain creature but being dumped by yet another boyfriend, she needed all ego boosts that she could get. And that was why she insisted on having Callie dolled up as well, it could double the effect and she was right.

The two old friends settled at the table and had the same expensive white wine that Callie and Arizona ordered during their blind date. The redhead neonatal surgeon intended to ask for the same bottle because she had to try how good the wine was that made her best friend lose her mind.

Of course she knew about the blind date. She knew more than she wanted to because drunken Callie had no switch off button to her mouth.

"So, do you still have the throb between your legs when those pair of sparkling blue eyes stare at you?" Addison laughed at the brunette, referring to one of the conversation they had after numerous glasses of wine.

"Addison!" Callie hissed under her breath. She didn't need a mirror to know her face was redder than her red dress.

"What? I'm just catching up." Addison took a sip of the wine and sighed. "This is really good, no wonder you felt the burning sensation in your..."

"Addison, stop it!" The brunette leaned closer to the table begging her best friend in a small voice. "I was drunk and so were you. I don't understand how you could remember it but please, just please! It's over and I don't want to talk about that anymore. Please!"

"Come on, we both know it isn't over. For the last 3 weeks, all you talked about was Arizona this, Arizona that." Addison picked up the menu ignoring the pleading woman. The mischievous smile on her lips showed that she was having fun in teasing her best friend.

"I didn't!" Callie protested. She pulled the menu down and leaned even closer. "I- I talked about Arizona because- because she is going to work with you on the quadruplet. I was helping you get o know her better to work on this difficult case."

"Yeah, right." The redhead squinted at the usually confident Ortho surgeon. She really had no idea how come this brilliant woman would turn to a total mess whenever it was about a relationship. First George, now Arizona. "Callie, I know you. You still have feelings for her and it won't go away as long as you're seeing her everyday."

"Whatever. This is just a phase and it'll pass. Just please, please keep this between us. Don't say anything to Arizona because we are friends now. I don't want to make it weird." The brunette covered Addison's hand with hers and glared into the blue eyes. "You have to promise me, not to tell her what I said to you. Promise me!"

"Fine." Addison heaved a sigh and gave the brunette a sympathetic smile. "I won't say a word to her. Now can we talk about something else?"

"Thank you." Callie's face spread to a wide smile and sat straight in her chair. "Have I told you Mark asked Arizona to do the ultrasound on his pregnant daughter? I mean, she's a Pediatric surgeon but Mark..."

"Callie, you mentioned her again." Addison picked up her glass for another sip. She tried to suppress the smirk but the glint in her eyes betrayed her.

"I- I was talking about Mark and it just happened that she is in the story." Callie took a sip of her wine, hiding her embarrassment. "I mean, he asked a Pediatric surgeon instead of asking you. He knows you're here tonight."

"He knows I will mock him in front of his daughter. I'm going to call him daddy or grandpa from now on." Both women laughed in unison.

"Give the poor man a break. He discovered that he's a father and going to be a grandfather in less than 3 weeks. And has to deal with a girlfriend that is not so thrilled about the whole situation." Callie chuckled as she reached for her ringing phone. She glanced at the screen and smiled to her friend. "Speaking of the devil... Hey Mark, how was the... Yes, she's here."

Callie passed the cellphone to Addison with a frown, and her brows were knitted together the whole time when the redhead was answering the phone.

"Calm down, Mark. We'll come right over." Addison nodded to the brunette, who already raised her hand to the waitress asking for the bill.

The two strode to the exam room on the OB floor in fast pace. There was Mark sitting on the stool holding the hand of Sloan's, who looked confused and scared. They both were listening to the blonde Peds surgeon until the man spotted his friends and jumped up from the seat.

"Addison, I adore you." Mark pulled the redhead into his arms for a bone crushing hug. But the hug didn't last long, he needed the doctor to do her job and quick. He pulled Addison closer to the bed and introduced her to Sloan and Arizona.

"Hi Dr. Robbins, nice to finally meet you." Addison looked the blonde surgeon up and down purposely, and she could feel a dagger threw to her back from Callie.

"Nice to meet you too, Dr. Montgomery." Arizona blushed. She wasn't intimidated by the world class neonatal surgeon but the look she got from the redhead sent chills up her back. She looked between Addison and Callie who was leaning against the door, and her heart sank a little. Callie was wearing a red wrap dress that showed off the curve of her body, the neckline sat low on her chest and the cleavage looming teasingly. And her gaze roamed further down, a hem of the dress ended above the knees revealing a pair of smooth, tanned long legs, and a pair of red and silver stilettos.

Callie and Addison weren't just going out to a dinner, they were on a date. No wonder Addison didn't looked so pleased to be called into the hospital.

"Mark filled me in briefly but not really thorough." Addison gave the blonde a lopsided smile. There was no way she'd miss the longing look in front of her. "Would you mind to let me know what have you found?"

"Yes, right." Arizona cleared her throat and turned to the monitor behind her. "During the ultrasound, I found the baby's got strands of amniotic tissue wrapped around his legs."

Addison leaned closer to the monitor and nodded her head. Callie came into the room and standing next to the grandfather-to-be, wrapped her arm around Mark's and listened quietly.

"Good catch Dr. Robbins." The redhead surgeon pointed her finger along the image on the screen. "There's a lot of swelling on the right foot. It seems pretty constricted."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sloan's voice trembled with terror. She was on the bed for hours, being wheeled to room after room for scans and tests. All she got was some big words between her dad and the doctors. She was totally freaking out and didn't know what was wrong with her baby.

"Ok Sloan, you see in here?" Addison looked at the pregnant girl sternly with her fingers still on the screen. "There are the legs of your baby's. The bands in here? They're called amniotic bands. Normally it wouldn't be in there. However, now it's wrapping around the legs and especially the right leg..."

"Is he going to die?" Sloan looked up to her father with round big eyes, and Mark struck her hair tenderly.

"No, the baby is not going to die."

"It has no immediate danger to his life. However, as the legs continue to grow, the bands will cut off his circulation. It may compromise one of his limbs." Addison turned to face the father and daughter. "That's just the worst case scenario."

"So what? One of his legs is gonna like... fall off?" Sloan stared at her baby bump, imagining a bunch of dismembered body parts inside her.

"As I said, that's the worst case scenario." The neonatal surgeon asked Arizona. "Have you got a fetal MRI?"

"Yes, here's the scan." The blonde handed over the films and stepped back, giving the other doctor more space to study the material.

Once again, like the opposite poles of magnets attract each other, Callie let go of Mark and shifted closer to the PEDS surgeon. Arizona gave her a tight smile.

"I've operated on this situation a couple times. I can remove the bands and he will be fine. 22 weeks is still risky but I have pretty high successful rate." Addison put down the films and looked at the girl on the bed. "Or we can wait a few weeks till he's bigger and stronger and we know the surgery's less risky."

"Can we wait until he was born?" Sloan asked before her father would say anything.

"If we wait, we risk severe damage to the left leg, possible loss of the right entirely." Arizona said, took a step forward to extend the distance between her and Callie subtly when Addison looked at them. "But we can monitor him closely, rehabilitate the remaining part of his leg after he was born, and we can fit him with a prosthesis. It's possible that he'll walk."

"He's gonna have stumps? No!" Sloan exclaimed suddenly. "No one would adopt him if he's a stumpy baby. It has to be fixed, now!"

"What are you talking about?" Mark's eyes almost popped out of his eyes sockets.

"Dad, I- I know you want me to keep the baby, but I've decided to put him out for adoption. I can't keep him. I'm too young to be a mother. I can't..." Sloan looked at Mark with tears in her eyes. She didn't plan on telling her newly reunited father until the baby was born. It just blurted out and now she just hoped the man would understand.

"Come on, let's give them some privacy." Addison said to the other 2 women, tagging Callie's sleeve to lean her out of the room. Arizona followed and closed the door behind.

The three of them sat on the couch in the corner of the hallway side by side with Callie in the middle. For a while, there was this heavy atmosphere among them because they all felt sorry for Mark and Sloan, and the unborn baby. Until the redhead peeked and found Arizona was staring at Callie's exposed legs.

"Dr. Robbins, Callie told me you're a terrific Pediatric surgeon. I'm glad to have a chance to work with you." Addison said with a chippy voice, making the blonde jump and snap her eyes up to meet the smirking woman.

And Callie was giving a stink eye to her best friend and sent her a silent curse.

"No, the honor is mine. I'm happy to have you on the case." Arizona answered timidly. "And I'm happy that you're here tonight, for Mark."

"Well, Mark is an old friend. I couldn't say no when he needs me. Even though, I got dragged away from the fine Italian cuisine against my will." Addison ignored the glare coming from the woman next to her. "We were in that Italian restaurant down the street, Mosconi. You know the place right? I've heard the foods are amazing in there."

"Yes, they are very good." Arizona pulled up a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Of course Callie would bring Addison to that restaurant. It was a nice place for date and they had proved it the last time. She cast a glance to the brunette, who was looking down at her own lap and fidgeting with her fingers. "It isn't really late, you can still go back there. I know they open until quite late."

"I don't think we're going back tonight. It's too depressing after this." Callie finally looked up and waved her hand over the closed exam room. She asked her friend. "Maybe we should just go home and order in pizza or Chinese food."

Addison shrugged. Before she could voice out her preference, the blonde blurted out.

"You're staying at Callie's tonight?"

"Yeah, of course." The brunette answered for Addison. She was going to explain to Arizona that she had a spare room and liked to stay up chatting with the redhead, but the door of the exam room chose this time to open.

Mark walked out of the room with his head hung low, sadness was written all over his feature. Apparently Sloan had made up her mind and the man wasn't able to change it.

"She- umm... She wants to have the surgery, Addie." Mark bit his lips to a thin line. "Can you do it?"

"Sure, book an OR and I'll come in tomorrow." Addison stood up to offer the man a comforting hug. Mark squeezed his friend tightly and then turned to the other 2 women standing next to him.

"Arizona, thanks for everything. I owe you one." To Arizona's surprise, Mark pulled her in his arms. She returned the embrace and ran her hands up and down the strong back.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Sloan. Everything will be all right."

"Yeah, I hope so." He let go of the blonde and turned to Callie, who already had her arms open.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" She asked with her face pressed against Mark's. Her heart ached for her friend.

"I'm just going to admit her and get everything ready. You take Addie home and make sure she goes to sleep early tonight, ok?" The tall man winked at the brunette, trying to lighten the mood. It was in his nature that even the situation was shitty, you should always face it with a little of smile.

"Don't worry about that." Callie hugged him one more time before he went back to his daughter.

The women watched the beaten man retreated to the room and sighed at the same time. They said their goodbye and went to the opposite ways. Arizona couldn't help to look back, watching Callie walked away with Addison by her side, with an arm wrapped around her shoulder.

* * *

Sloan's surgery was scheduled in the earlier morning. Callie came in the hospital with Addison and stayed with Mark in the gallery. She missed her morning coffee routine with Arizona but she had no choice, her best friend needed her moral support.

Everything went well and before noon, the patient had already settled in the recovery. Callie got page to a consult but promised to meet her friends for lunch later, left the other two got some one on one time to catch up.

"So you told her Callie and I are a couple?" The two sat in the cafeteria side by side. Milkshake almost sprayed all over the table from Addison's mouth when Mark told her about the prank he pulled during the thanksgiving dinner.

"No, I didn't say that. I implied it. It was fun." Mark chuckled. "You should've seen her face when I showed her the picture of you two in bikinis."

"You're evil, Mark." The redhead wiped her mouth with a napkin, but that didn't wipe away her smirk. "Then what, no follow ups? Callie keeps telling me that she and Arizona are friends, just friends."

"Hey, we have our lives too, ok?" The man shrugged. "You know my life turned upside down in the last few weeks."

"I thought you said Callie's your best friend, your family." Addison snorted. "You just sit back and watch her mope around."

"I have my own moping to do." Mark sighed heavily, and took a slurp from his cup of milkshake. "I told Lexie I wanna adopt my grandson, and she broke up with me."

"Oh Mark, I'm so sorry." Addison gave the defeated man a gentle rub on the arm. She looked up when someone approached them.

"Sorry for what?" Callie asked, looking at Mark with concern. "Something's wrong with Sloan again?"

"Oh you're here. That was quick." Addison slid to the seat next to her, wanting Callie to take the one in the middle so she could look at her friends in the same time.

"Just a sprain, I let an intern took care of it. What's wrong with him?" The brunette asked again, Addison answered before the heartbroken man.

"Little Grey dumped him for wanting to adopt his own grandson."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Callie placed her hand on Mark's arm and breathed out. She knew how much he loved his girlfriend. The last brake up hit him hard. It took him a long time to forget about Lexie; screwing nurses and random hook ups again.

"I thought I could have everything, you know? A girl that I love, a daughter and a grandkid... Now I am going to lose everything." Mark sighed again.

"She'll come around, Mark. It's not the first time she broke up with you. She'll change her mind again." The brunette cooed, but Mark just shook his head.

"I don't know, I think it's pretty done this time."

"Why did she break up with you last time?" Addison looked between her friends and asked. Living in another city made her missed out a lot of stories, and Mark was happy to fill her in. He needed someone to talk to.

Arizona had a bad day, it was understandable. She couldn't shut her mind off thinking about Callie and Addison, in the same apartment and... It was torture. She kept telling herself that it was ok to be Callie's friend, just her friend. But seeing her with someone else, all dressed up on a date brought out the jealousy all over again. However, she had no right to be jealous because she blew her chance. And basically, she was the one that opened up a path for Callie to embrace the lady love, she was the one that made Callie realize that she liked women and she loved Addison. She had herself to blame.

She wasn't surprise that Callie didn't show up in their daily coffee cart gathering, but she was shocked to see her usual spot next to Callie at the lunch table was occupied by the gorgeous and funny Dr. Montgomery, who looked absolutely stunning in the navy blue scrubs, laughing with the others navy blue scrubs wearing doctors.

For a second, she thought about turning around and leave the cafeteria, but Callie had seen her and threw her a toothy smile from afar. She used her willpower to smile back, and headed to the counter to get some food first. Even though, she had lost her appetite totally.

"Arizona." A familiar voice came from behind. The blonde turned around and found the redhead that she went out the last time was there standing with a smile.

"Cheryl," Arizona gave the woman a polite smile, she took in the burgundy scrubs that the redhead was wearing. "I didn't know you're working here too. So nice to see you again."

"Thank you. There was an opening here and my old attending recommended I take it. And here I am." Cheryl giggled melodramatically. "This is my third day."

"Oh that is good. You're gonna love it. Everyone here is very nice." Arizona moved forward when the line of the cashier moved. She was about to wipe her employee ID card to pay for her lasagna, a hand from Cheryl stopped her.

"Let me. You paid for our date the last time, the least I can do is to buy you a lunch, since you haven't called me back."

"I- you know, the merger, new job... I was very busy." Arizona blushed under the mischievous gaze from the burgundy scrubs wearing woman.

"Don't worry about it, I understand." Cheryl smiled sweetly. "Are you alone? My colleagues aren't here and I'll have to eat by myself."

Arizona looked over to the table sitting with her surgeon friends. She locked eyes with that pair of brown eyes for a brief second before she smiled to the dermatology doctor bitterly.

"Sure. Why not?"

"Who is that woman sitting with Arizona? I haven't seen her in here before." Callie asked no one, her eyes were following the blonde all along.

"Oh my god, that is Cheryl." Teddy whirled and surprise to find her friend ditched her regular lunch buddies, sharing a table with that woman. "I didn't even know she transferred here too."

"Burgundy scrubs? She's from dermatology, how does Robbins know her?" Mark followed their gaze and asked.

"They knew each other back in Mercy West, went on a date once." Teddy answered absentmindedly. She turned her attention back to Addison who was telling an interesting story about a case back in LA. But Callie interrupted them.

"I didn't know Arizona was dating someone?"

"It wasn't recently. They went out..." Oh. Teddy made a grimace. "They went out the night of your birthday party."

"Oh." Callie breathed out. She clenched her jaws staring at the blonde hair Peds surgeon talking with her lunch date.

"I can't believe you didn't know that. This hospital throws Christmas parties for the staff every year. Well, for the ones who don't have to work on the 23rd." Cheryl smiled. "They said on the 23rd so that the staff can have Christmas eve and Christmas day with their families and friends."

"I know there's a party but didn't really get into details. Too busy and all." Arizona poked at her almost untouched lunch. "I have a complicated surgery on Monday, pretty sure that I'll be staying in the hospital with the patients even the day after. Guess I will be one of the staff that has to work on the 23rd then."

The blonde couldn't help to look over to the attending's table again. Maybe it was for the best that she couldn't go to the hospital party. She didn't know if she could stand seeing Callie and Addison come to the party as a happy couple. She pulled her lips to a frown when Addison stood up and extended her hand to the brunette. How she wished she would be the one to hold that hand.

"Oh it's too bad." Cheryl's voice brought her attention back to the woman sitting next to her. "I was going to ask you to be my date to the party."

"Oh..." Arizona gasped. She flushed a little from the flirty wink given by the redhead.

"You're talking about the Christmas party?" A pair of silhouettes came closer to the table. Arizona looked up and found Addison standing there with a smile. And Callie was behind her staring at Cheryl with an unreadable expression.

"Hi Dr. Montgomery. Hi Callie." The blonde addressed the two women and introduced them to the dermatology fellow, but Addison ignored the skinny redhead deliberately.

"You're Callie's friend, call me Addison." The neonatal surgeon smile mischievously. She asked again. "Talking about the party?"

"I was telling Cheryl that I won't be able to go to the party. Pretty sure the quadruplet is going to keep me busy." Arizona answered sheepishly. Of course it was kinda an excuse and she knew Addison would know it. Yes, the babies gotta need someone to monitor them after the surgery, but there would have enough staffs in the NICU to do the job. She just couldn't tell them that she didn't want to witness the woman she liked being in someone else's arms.

"The surgery is on Monday and the party is on Thursday night, it shouldn't be a problem." Addison shrugged, still smiling.

"No, the party is on the 23rd, Wednesday." Cheryl interjected. Her face turned a shade of red in front of the intimidated Dr. Montgomery and under the strained glare coming from Dr. Torres. Addison ignored her again and directed the answer to Arizona.

"Derek's new assistant mixed up the date. She reserved the ballroom of Archfield on 24th by mistake. Since our surgery is gonna be the highlight of the new hospital and our team deserves to be rewarded with a party, he decided to go with it and postpone it to the 24th."

"That is... great." A stiff smile appeared on the pale face, now she had no excuse to get away from this.

"This really is gonna be great." Addison turned to the quiet brunette behind her. "We know how to party. Isn't that right, girlfriend?"

Callie was startled. She took her eyes away from the frighten dermatology fellow and watching Addison enveloped her hand with both hands. The woman was grinning like a Cheshire cat. She didn't know what to answer but nodded stupidly.

"Hey, the nurses told me Dorie Russell has admitted already." The renowned neonatal surgeon said with a satisfied smile after seeing the pretty face of Arizona's clouded over at the intimacy between her and Callie. "I have 2 hours free time, would you mind if I go say hi and maybe run some testes?"

"Sure, of course. Do you want me to go with you?" Arizona was about to stand up from the chair, but Addison waved a hand to stop her.

"No it's fine, I know my way around here. You enjoy your lunch. I'll walk Callie to the ER and then I'll head to OB."

Addison dragged the linked hand to pull Callie out of the cafeteria in a fast pace. The brunette could hardly get time to say goodbye to her friend.

"What was that about, Addison?" Callie asked as the two walking down the hallway. When the redhead said they had to go and pulled her up from the chair, she didn't plan on crushing Arizona's lunch date with that model liked doctor. Ugh! Another model.

"I just wanted to prove a point. And I am right." Seeing there was a big crowd waiting for the elevator, the two decided to take the stairs.

"What are you talking about?" Callie asked again impatiently. Addison tilted her head to the side, smirking at her confused friend.

"Arizona is jealous, seeing you and me together."

"What? You're crazy." Callie cracked a half smile. "She isn't. She was with... what was her name? Anyway, didn't you see how beautiful that lotion doctor was?"

"She is not even half as beautiful as you, Callie." The redhead sighed. "You really should give yourself some credit."

"Well, not beautiful enough to make her want to be with me." Callie murmured under her breath. It was almost inaudible, luckily, Addison had good ears.

"Stop the self-pity or I'm going to smack you in the head." The neonatal surgeon took a step forward and whirled around staring at her best friend in the eyes. "Believe me, she wants you."

"How do you know? You've only met her twice." Callie rolled her eyes to the ceiling, avoiding the mocking gaze.

"Listen. During that thanksgiving dinner at Derek's, Arizona seemed to have a change of heart and wanted to tell you she likes you. But for some reason she didn't say anything. It may have something to do with-" Addison said slowly, too slow that Callie couldn't wait for her to finish.

"With what?"

"Mark kinda insinuated that you and I are dating." The smirking woman turned back around to continue their path. But Callie grabbed her shoulder from behind and exclaimed.

"He what?"

"Stop yelling at me. I'm just telling you what Mark told me." Addison sneered over her shoulder.

"But why- why would he do that?"

"Because he is Mark, he thought it was funny. And he cares about you." Addison shrugged. "Mark was mad at Arizona for hurting you. To be honest, I'd do the same. No one, I mean no one can treat my friend like this. Who does she think she is? Pushed you away because she didn't think you deserve Her Royal Highness Princess Lesbian? And then waltzes back when she feels like it?"

"I don't think- She doesn't-" The small smile spread to a wide grin slowly. "She really wants me?"

"Meredith said something. Teddy said something... but Mark didn't really remember what they talked about that night. You know he has a lot on his mind lately. That's why he forgot about this until I told him that Arizona looked at me kinda strange when she met me the first time."

"And that's why you called me your girlfriend in front of her?" Callie cast a glance to the redhead with a lopsided grin.

"I didn't call you my girlfriend. I said girlfriend. You're a girl and you're my friend, girlfriend." Addison looped an arm around Callie's, rested her head against the brunette shoulder playfully.

"What should I do now? Should I go tell her that you and I are not anything and- and- and I also want her?" Never the one wait to take action, Callie stopped her track and wanting to run back to where Arizona was. But the linked arm stopped her.

"No, Callie. You need to learn to be patient. It's this eagerness put you in this position. You did the same with O'Malley. Let her sweat a bit, and then tell her in an appropriate occasion, not right in the middle of the cafeteria in front of the woman who wants to take her to the party." Addison laughed out, pulling the Latina down to continue their way. But Callie stayed still.

"But- but what if I am too late and she decided to go with..."

"You are colleagues and friends. You see each other at work everyday. You've got plenty of chance to talk to her before the party." Addison tried again. This time, Callie followed suit with a bright smile on her face.

Addison was right about a lot of thing but she didn't know Arizona Robbins was good at hiding.

Arizona was in the hospital Sunday the whole day. She had no surgeries scheduled but she was working on paper work and running from room to room to check on the patients. And that was how she found Callie standing by the nurse station with 2 cups of coffee in hands. The two didn't have morning coffee together for days and Callie was going to bring the coffee to her. But the head of Peds made a turn to another direction before she was exposed.

She sent an intern to get her a sandwich during lunch, then she could lock herself in her office instead of showing up at the cafeteria.

She replied Teddy's text message an hour later after she was already at home, telling her friend that she couldn't make it to Joe's joining their evening out, with Callie and Addison.

And she arrived in the hospital in the crack of dawn, made sure she won't run into Callie who would be waiting for her by the coffee cart.

She knew she won't be able to avoid Callie forever, but this was a big hospital had many floors, it might work. At least until her green eyes monster retired back to its resting place.

After all, she shouldn't have any distraction right now.

The gestation period of a normal pregnancy is 40 weeks, with quadruplet 36 weeks would consider full term. Dorie Russell was only 32 weeks pregnant but each baby had a complicated condition. Baby A had hydrocephalus, baby B had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, baby C's organs were in a sac outside of its body. Comparing to the sisters, baby D was the most health one with slightly underdeveloped lungs.

As the leading term of this surgery, she consulted with Cardio, Neuro and Neonatal coming up with plans and decided to take them out the sooner rather than later. And today was the day to put the plans in action.

There was a full house in the gallery. Callie was in the first row with Mark sitting next to her. She couldn't take her eyes off the surgeon with the flowery scrub cap.

"She's avoiding me." Callie twisted her lips. She cast a glance to the side when she got no response. "Mark?"

"You're right." Mark swiveled his head to his friend briefly, then turned around to the back again. "She's avoiding me."

Callie looked over the man's head, there was Lexie leaning against the doorframe watching the surgery. The brunette sighed and grabbed the man by his chin to pull his attention to her.

"Her last words to you were 'leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone'. Look away, Mark." Callie stared at the man with a hard glare. "She is avoiding you because she doesn't want to see you. And I was saying Arizona is avoiding me."

"Why?" Mark asked with a frown. Callie dropped her hand and looked back at the OR.

"Addison said she is jealous of... Mark!" Callie whined when she found she lost the man again.

"I- I need to talk to her." The lovesick man bolt out for the door where Lexie turned to leave the gallery, leaving Callie hissed in her breath with wide eyes. Mark was her voice of reason whenever she needed a dose of wisdom, but he was being useless ever since his girlfriend dumped him again. She fixated her gaze to the flowery scrub cap again with a pout.

The OR was quiet. Everyone was in the zone and no one dared to make any small talk afraid to throw off their focus. Arizona was assisting Addison with the C-section. As soon as the baby was out of the womb, the respective term would jump in to take over the baby and wheeled it out to the prep OR for its surgery.

Addison was pulling out the second baby and everything was going well so far. However, Callie couldn't stay to watch the rest of the surgery. A dare devil ran the motorcycle into a tree that took the Ortho surgeon hours to put him back together.

Scrubbing out of her surgery, Callie ran into Derek and Addison who also finished up the surgery of installing a shunt draining the fluid from baby A's brain.

"How did it go, Derek?" The brunette walked with the two doctors toward the elevator. Derek smiled while putting his ferry boat scrub cap in the pocket.

"It was a simply procedure. The baby is gonna be alright."

"How about the others?" Callie asked again.

"Altman is still working on baby B. Bailey's baby C is in the recovery..." They passed by the OR where Teddy was performing the surgery on baby B. Callie peeked inside and surprised to see the assisting attending wasn't in there.

"I through Dr. Robbins was in this surgery." She looked between her colleagues. Sadness was shown in the two pair of blue eyes.

"She got pull out in the middle of the surgery. Baby D couldn't make it." Addison sighed.

Callie's feet reacted before her brain. She ran down the stairs in full force wanting to get to the Peds floor as soon as she can.

"How could I let this happened? How could I..." Arizona was pacing back and forth in the on-call with hands in her hair, tears running down her cheeks.

She was blaming herself for the death of baby D. She was supposed to be the healthiest one. Underdeveloped lungs should be the easiest to handle among her sisters. But baby D's vital declined rapidly after she was settled in the NICU. By the time Arizona got paged to the NICU, Alex was about to announce the time of death.

Of course it wasn't Arizona's fault that baby D couldn't survive. The lungs gave out and stressed out the tiny heart, it happened to a lot of preemies and it was always a 50/50 chance that they wouldn't react to the medicine properly. But could that be prevented?

The teams were so focused on the bigger problems - the cerebrospinal fluid put pressure on baby A's brain; the chambers on the left side of baby B's heart were underdeveloped and the mitral valve was abnormally narrow; baby C's organs were growing outside of her body, those were the big problems that placed in front of them and they knew it had to repair, right away. Breathing was as important as the rest of the issues and they undervalued the impacts on the tiny body, and baby D paid for it.

Shouldn't they give her more steroids to develop the lungs? Shouldn't they keep the babies inside the mother a week longer to let the lungs grow stronger?

Shouldn't she give a chance for her and Callie in the first place?

She was doing the same. She was so focused on the bigger issues in her head, that Callie might regret being with a lesbian, Callie might deny their relationship, Callie might break her heart. She did everything she could to prevent this from happening, but she ignored the simplest factor - she liked Callie. And now, it was too late to fix it. And she couldn't breathe.

She slumped on the bed with her face in her palms. It was stupid to be so hung up on a woman she couldn't have. They had a night together months ago. No matter how memorable it was, how incredibly great it was, it was just a night. But it wasn't the sex that made her fall head over heels with this woman. It was this woman, this amazing, funny, talented, strong yet vulnerable woman that made her heart tingle, made her heart sing and made her heart ache.

Every cell in her body screamed that she wanted to be with Callie, calling her her girlfriend and holding her hand and kiss...

The door of the on-call opened and closed. Arizona didn't need to lift her head to see who entered the room. She recognized that perfume anywhere.

"I heard. I am so sorry." Callie whispered. Her heart clenched seeing Arizona sitting on the bed so devastatingly. She knew how much energy the blonde put in this case and how involved she was with the patient, and the unborn babies. That was why her first instinct was running to here to see if Arizona was all right. She didn't even hesitate to pass through the door after the nurse pointed the direction to the on-call room.

Arizona didn't answer. She was breathing hard in her hands.

Callie stayed by the door, starting to doubt that maybe it wasn't a good idea of invading the blonde's private moment. Everyone had their own way of dealing with grief, and not everyone wanted to share it with... a friend.

"Arizona, it was not an easy case. Each one of the babies got their problem and there was no guarantee that they will all be alright." Callie said softly. "Addison said hers and Bailey's are ok, Teddy is still working on baby A and she's looking good."

"That's good." Arizona tilted her head, smiled bitterly while wiping her cheeks with a hand.

"Arizona," Callie tried again. "Addison said a quadruplet pregnancy is always complicated. It wasn't easy to..."

Arizona swallowed hard. She respected Dr. Montgomery. How couldn't she? Addison was professional, kind and smart. However, hearing the name coming out of Callie's mouth just made her wanna... made her wanna...

Shut her up with her lips.

Callie was thrown off-balance when Arizona made a lunge at her. She tumbled 2 steps back against the wall, hands flown to hold onto the slender hips of the blonde's in reflex when she was pushed against the wall. Before she knew what was happening, a pair of soft lips pressed on hers.

She was in the similar position 2 months ago. Last time she fought like hell to get the stoned man off of her, this time? She was surprised but welcomed the hungry kiss with pleasure.

Arizona's mind was off. All she could think about was how she wanted to tell the brunette that she would kiss these lips for the rest of her life if she was allowed. To love her, to cherish her, and never let her go again. The kiss spoke for her forcefully, hungrily and insistently. She slid her hands into the raven hair pulling Callie closer to her face, warm and soft tongue slipped pass the plump lips without resistance.

Callie moaned into the kiss. It was every bit as amazing as she remembered. She was lost in the sensation and overwhelmed by the intense emotion in her chest, reciprocating the kiss with the same passion. She tightened her grip on Arizona's hips, then released, sliding around to pull the slimmer body to hers. She missed the feeling of the soft body against hers as much as she missed the sweetness of those lips, and the warmth of the skilled tongue.

The moment was stirred when a pager went off. They pulled apart slightly, blue staring at brown with their noses brushed against the others during every deep breath. Callie was entranced by the blue eyes once again. They were so bright and so... vulnerable. They were trying to say the things that the mouth didn't dare to say. And Callie knew what that was, sort of.

"Arizona..." Callie breathed out. She wanted to tell Arizona that she felt the same, but the blonde didn't give her the chance.

"I'm sorry." Arizona took a deep breath, pulled the door open and escaped from the room.

* * *

"I'm going to do it, Addie." Callie took a gulp of the red wine, staring at the entry of the ballroom without blinking. "I can't wait any longer."

"Are you sure she's coming?" Addison sneered at the determined brunette sitting next to her.

"It's the chief's order. She has to come to the party." Callie took her eyes off the door briefly, glaring at her friend. "She can't hide out forever. She stayed in the NICU 24/7 since she kissed me. But tonight, she has nowhere to hide."

"I'm not so sure, Callie." The redhead shrugged. "Do you really think Teddy can drag her out here if she doesn't want to? Mark said she failed the last time."

"She will be here!" Callie insisted. She picked up her glass once again and murmured under her breath. "She has to."

Yes, she had to.

"Stop pouting, it is not that cute, you know?" Teddy teased her friend. They were sitting in the back of a taxi heading to Archfield. "Derek wants you to go to the party and enjoy the evening, you know that."

"I'm not pouting, I'm just... tired." Arizona made a grimace, looking out of the window.

"Of course you're tired. You haven't had a decent sleep since Monday." The long hair blonde put a hand on Arizona's knee with sympathy. "The babies are stable now. You did a great job. 3 out of 4 of them survived, it is higher than the odds that we estimated in the beginning. You did a great job."

Only if Teddy knew the babies weren't the only thing in her mind.

"I'm really not in the mood for partying. I should stay home and get some rest." Arizona pursed her lips glancing at Teddy from the corner of her eyes. She had a plan. She was gonna leave the NICU in the afternoon, telling everyone that she'd go home to prepare for the party. And then she would text Teddy that she was exhausted and needed to sleep.

However, Teddy saw right through her. The head of Cardio surgery stayed in the NICU since the morning, and escorted the blonde home dressing up, and went to the party together.

"You should relax. Have some wine, dance a little. You've been winded up so tight because of that surgery. We all know that is not good." Teddy looked at her friend with concern. "I want you to have fun tonight. And I promise, I'll send you home after a few drinks."

"Thank you, Teddy." Arizona patted the hand on her knee, smiled sweetly. "I know you meant well. You even left your hottie boyfriend for me."

"Well, I love you but don't think I really love you that much." Teddy laughed out. "Henry is already at the party."

"Oh, remind me to thank him for taking care of the apartment." Arizona looked over to her friend, she almost forgot about it. Staying at work for days, she really had no time to deal with personal stuff.

"Don't worry about that. His team has no matches until after the new year, he's bored out of his mind. You just gave him something to do."

The two friends continued the conversation while the taxi carrying them to their destination. Soon, they were standing by the entry of the biggest ballroom in the Archfield hotel trying to find their friends among the sea of partiers. But it didn't take long when two hands raised up high from afar. One was from Henry, and the other was Callie's.

"Oh, they are there!" Teddy shouted to the blonde under the loud music and then strode to the table that was occupied by their friends. Arizona followed nervously but her path was blocked when a green dress stood in front of her.

"You're here! You said you're let me know if you'd come." It was Cheryl, staring at the shocking woman with a feigned anger.

"I'm sorry. It was a last minute decision." Arizona smiled sheepishly. She had totally forgotten about the redhead dermatology doctor.

"You're forgiven. I know you were very busy with the legendary quadruplet surgery. I've heard that it went well. Congratulations!" Cheryl leaned forward to give the blonde a tight hug. Arizona reacted stiffly. The redhead pulled away in an arm length and looked up and down the blue cocktail dress on the blonde's body in admiration. "You look really pretty. I see you're coming with Dr. Altman, does it mean you're flying solo tonight?"

"I..." Arizona was searching her brain trying to find an excuse to get away. Suddenly, a familiar figure came to her side and grasped her wrist tightly.

"Hi." Callie smiled to the redhead briefly, not even bothering to address her before she turned to the woman she had been waiting for the whole night. "Let's dance."

She didn't give Arizona a chance to reject, nor say anything else to that annoyingly clingy lotion doctor. She just pulled the woman to the dance floor and took her hand possessively. It wasn't her plan to just snatch the blonde like this. But seeing the lotion doctor put those hands on the object of her affection, the idea of Arizona might spending the time with someone else just made her getting irrational. She couldn't let anyone get between her and Arizona tonight.

_I don't want a lot for Christmas there is just one thing I need_  
_I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree_  
_I don't need to hang my stocking there upon the fireplace_  
_Santa Claus won't make me happy with a toy on Christmas day_

Upbeat Christmas song was playing in high volume, people were jumping up and down on the floor having a blast. Callie pushed through the crowd and led Arizona to the middle and started to spin her around in the beat with a huge smile.

"Callie..." Arizona tried to talk, but the brunette just grinned at her and started to sing along with the song loudly.

"... I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know. Make my wish come true, all I want for Christmas is you..." Callie swung to the rhythm and twirled the blonde one more time.

Arizona couldn't help to laugh at the brunette's antic. After a couple more whirls, everything else flew away from her mind and she was dancing freely like her dance partner. They held their arms up above their heads; they shook their bodies in sync; they took turned to spin one another... and they were laughing to each other so hard that made the other dancers laugh with them. They were having a great time song after song, after song.

The DJ decided to change the atmosphere after a series of fast songs. The light dimmed when a romantic ballad softly played in the air. Some people left the dance floor and some joined with their love ones in their hands. Arizona took the hint and about to leave the dance floor, but Callie took her hand and pulled her closer. Their bodies collided and Callie had her hands shifted around the blonde's waists, holding her tightly and started to swing with the music.

Arizona felt her knees go weak. The warmth breath on her ear, Callie's perfume mixed with the nature scents and the softness of the body against hers all made her mesmerized. Her hands had their own mind to loop around Callie's neck and buried her nose in the dark hair inhaled deeply to calm her raging heart beat. She closed her eyes to savor the moment. She was in Callie's arms and none of the rest of the world matters, at least during this song.

The moment was stirred when the body in her arms started to shake. The blonde pulled away to stare at the chuckling woman with her eyebrows rose up, but their limbs were still wrapped around each other intimately.

"Do you remember what you said at Joe's? About thanksgiving and Christmas? That I'd leave you at home because I won't take you see my family?" Callie asked with a naughty sparkle in her brown eyes. "Do you realize that we have spent both holidays together with my work family? And you said that I'd prefer to dance with someone else instead of you?"

"What?" Arizona's smile froze. "It is why you dragged me out here? To rub it in my face?"

"What? No!" Callie tightened her grip when the blonde tried to pull away. "That's not what I mean. I just..."

"No Callie, let me go!" Arizona tried squirm free. She involuntary glanced over the table where Addison was sitting , and her eyes widened when she found the woman supposed to be Callie's girlfriend was sucking face with Mark. "Oh my god!"

Callie followed her gaze and was startled, greatly.

"Whoa! Those two... but I can't say I'm not surprised, that is Mark's coping mechanism when he got dumped." The brunette laughed out sarcastically, Arizona stared at her with even wider eyes.

"Your girlfriend is kissing another guy and you're laughing?"

"Arizona," Callie chuckled with a soft smile. "Addison is not my girlfriend. Well, technically she's a girl and she's my friend, but she's not my girlfriend."

"Is it a joke? Do you think this is funny?" Arizona exclaimed shocking Callie and caused her to loosen the grip. She could finally push the brunette away and turned to the direction of the exit. It took a couple of seconds for Callie to snap out of the suddenness and scraped through the crowd to reach the blonde. She caught the slender wrist from behind. Arizona struggled slightly but Callie was able to pull her to the empty spot by the bar before they caused a scene in the ballroom.

People were gathering on the other side of this semi-circle bar chatting with their friends and waiting for the drinks. There was a reason they didn't come to this end of the bar and Callie knew the reason, and she had eyes on this spot the whole time.

"Arizona, please listen to me, ok?" Callie took a step forward wanting to get closer, but Arizona stepped back. Instinctively, Callie reached out to hold the blonde's shoulders with both hands. "I didn't know Mark told you Addison and I were together but we're not. I was- I am still pretty hung up on you after I got back from LA. I just thought you didn't feel the same so I tried to keep it to myself. I didn't know any of this until that afternoon Addison told me that you were jealous."

Callie ended the speech with a kiss on Arizona's lips. It was a quick little peck and she let her lips lingered on the pink lips waiting for the blonde to respond to the kiss. But a second passed by, two seconds passed by, three seconds passed by... Arizona was motionless.

"Oh gosh! I- I am so sorry." Callie pulled away abruptly, inhaled loudly with her mouth wide opened. She took a step back and staring at the woman in front of her in horror. "I'm coming too strong again. I am so sorry. It's just- I thought- you... Addison said- You kissed me. You kissed me in the on-call room..."

Callie's face turned white and began to stammer. She really thought she had it but it seemed her was wrong, a big time. The verbal diarrhea continued when Arizona just gazing at her and biting the inside of her mouth.

"Please don't- I mean, we can pretend this-" She swung a finger between them. "This never happened and we can go back to be friends, you know. I- I kissed you because- because we're under the mistletoe. You see?"

The frightened Latina pointed her finger upward. Arizona tilted her head and saw there was a bundle of mistletoe hanging above their heads. No wonder people were avoiding this side of the bar.

"You pulled me here so you can kiss me under the mistletoe?" The blonde asked, keeping a straight face even thought she was screaming with joy inside.

"No... Well yes, I just- I thought- I thought it would be romantic but it doesn't matter anymore, ok? I was joking. Ha ha, funny, funny me. We're friends, right? We- we're friends and we should toast to our friendship." Callie turned to the bar man and held up her hand. "Bartender, can we have 2 glasses of wine please? White, she likes white wine."

"Callie," Arizona reached for Callie's held up hand. She let her hand gliding along the strong forearm and grasped the soft hand gently. "I don't want us to be friends."

The brunette started to panic. She really messed this up and probably beyond repair. She was never good at this game and apparently, she got the signal wrong again. She shouldn't have believed what Addison said to her, and she shouldn't have thought that the kiss in the dark on-call room meant anything when the blonde was upset about her patient. Another flow of verbal diarrhea was about to come out, but Arizona leaned forward to seal her mouth with a softness kiss.

"Because I want to be able to kiss you in a way that friends won't do to each other, without me wearing a mistletoe hat everyday." Arizona chuckled lightly seeing the shock displayed on the face before her.

"Are you're messing with me?" Callie asked with uncertainty. Her brain hadn't caught up yet. "I- you probably just don't want to hurt my feelings, I totally understanding that..."

"Calliope, you're not listening to me." Arizona smiled with her dimples popped up. "I'm telling you I want to kiss you everyday. I want us to be more than just friends. I was going to tell you that after your birthday party but you didn't answer your phone."

"You called?" Hearing her name rolling out of those sweet lips, the brightest smile spread across the caramel face slowly.

"Yeah, I did." Arizona picked up the other hand and ran her thumbs over them lovingly. She looked down at their joint hands to hide her burning eyes. "And when you returned, you were so... indifferent. I thought I lost my chance, I thought you had moved on and dating Addison. And you said you love her."

"Addison is my best friend. I love her as a friend, not the way like I- not that I want to kiss her or anything." Callie said hurriedly.

"How should I know? You talked about her all the time, and you two seemed really intimate in those pictures..." Arizona stepped closer. "She almost sat on your lap in that picture of you two in the bikinis..."

"We were breaking the new phone she brought me. She threw mine into the water and got me a new one. Her friend took that picture for us as the first picture in the newest phone. We were just fooling around." The brunette brushed the smooth cheek with her thumb tenderly. She loved the hint of jealousy in those blue eyes.

"Why did she throw your phone in the water?" Arizona asked, and Callie bit her bottom lip before answering.

"I almost drunk dialed you and she took it away from me."

"God..." The blonde breathed out. She wrapped her arms around Callie's waist and let herself enveloped by the scent that she missed. "Imagine the trouble we could've avoided if you did call me, or I was able to call you."

"Well, it will be much better if you didn't turn me down in the beginning." Callie dropped her head to kiss on the top of the blonde head. She was so overwhelmed. She didn't know she wanted to cry or laugh or shout out. "And if you were not avoiding me, or ran out of the on-call so quickly, I'd have told you already."

"Oh so this is my fault?" Arizona lifted her head to look into the brown eyes affectionately. The brown eyes gazed back with the same tenderness.

"Kinda." Callie shrugged a shoulder mischievously.

"I was stubborn, okay? And about you and Addison, can you blame me? Have you seen you two in the photos?" Arizona flushed when the bartender arrived with their drinks. From the look on the man's face, he heard her words.

"I was at the beach. What else should I wear? A business suit?" The brunette smirked while picking up a glass of wine. Arizona picked up hers before throwing her a playful glare.

"I'm just saying, you can't expect me to think otherwise when you were covered in that small thing..."

"Oh so you were paying attention to what I was wearing in that photo, huh?" Callie raised her eyebrows, sipping her wine with a grin. Now that their true feelings toward the other were out on the table, the flirtation came out freely. "Saw anything you like?"

"How can't I? You looked really, really hot in that red bikini." Arizona leaned closer to whisper into Callie's ear. Two could play the game and she really enjoyed it.

"So, what does it mean for us? Do you wanna go out with me now?" Callie bit her bottom lip when the blonde pulled away. It took all her willpower to not just grab the woman and kissed her senseless.

"If you up for it, I'd like to take you for dinner, have a proper date." Arizona stood straight, asked sincerely. The brunette answered with a mega watt smile.

"I'd love that. Do we... tell those people?" Callie tilted her head to the side, indicated their nosy colleagues.

"Maybe we should keep it to ourselves for a while? I don't want them to involve in this yet. You know how terrible they can be." The blonde made a little grimace thinking about their friends. It's not that she didn't like their friends, but maybe it wasn't the time to share this with anyone other than the two of them yet. Lucky for them, almost everyone was in the dance floor and no one paid much of an attention to the corner of the bar.

"You're right. We should take this slow. I don't want to mess this up because I really, really like you." Callie nodded. Her hand found the way to Arizona's hip and stroking up and down seductively. She was itched to touch the blonde more intimately, but right now, she had to settle for the soft touch.

"Take it slow, huh? Does it mean you're not taking me home tonight?" Arizona squinted at Callie with a smirk. Of course she wanted to rip Callie's clothes off and kiss every inch of that curvy body, but she did agree that they should take it slow this time, in order not to mess anything up.

"Well, maybe after our third date..." Callie trailed off with a naughty smile. She inched her face closer wanted to claim the pink lips again, but Arizona stopped her by placing a finger on her chin.

"So you had no problem of dragging me into your bed on our blind date, but now you want to wait until the third official date? What a double standard Dr. Torres."

"What can I say? I'm a classy woman." Callie giggled while leaned forward to peck on the waiting lips. It was a quick kiss in order to keep their reestablished affection on a down low. "Do you want to go back to the dance floor?"

"I'd love to but I'm actually kinda exhausted." Arizona pursed her lips. She really enjoyed dancing with Callie but she didn't have the energy to keep up with the energetic woman tonight.

"Of course you are." The brunette ran her thumb under the blue eyes affectionately. "Do you know how many times I had peeked into the NICU and found you passed out on the chair in there?"

"You were stalking me?" Arizona couldn't help to smile. "That's creepy."

"Creepy would be kidnapping you to an on-call room, tie you up and force you to listen to me." Callie said with a grin. "If Mark wasn't so occupied with his stupid problems, maybe he'd actually help me with that."

"Uh- speaking of which, shouldn't you go over there to make sure he and Addison wouldn't do anything stupid?" Arizona glanced at the direction where the objects of their conversation were located. Addison was sitting on Mark's laps and the two were making out like two horny teenagers.

"But I rather stay here with you." Callie pouted. She cared about her friends but she wanted to spend more time with the blonde.

As if on cue, Arizona seen Teddy and Henry stepped out of the dance floor. She waved her friends over before took a step to the side keeping an appropriate distance between her and the brunette.

"I'm going to leave with Teddy. Henry's team is having another party and they're going to drop me off on the way." She chuckled under her breath seeing the childish pout on Callie's face. "Stop it."

"But it's barely 10pm, you're leaving already?" Never the one hiding her emotion, Callie whined in front of Teddy and Henry.

"Let the poor woman go home and get some rest, Torres." Teddy smirked between the two women. Seeing Callie's bright red lipstick on Arizona's lips, it didn't need a genius to know what the two had been doing. "She was so tired that didn't even wanna come here. But I think she's glad that she changed her mind."

"Teddy." Arizona nudged her friend in the stomach, made her giggled and leaned backward to her boyfriend.

"Don't worry, Callie. You're gonna have a lot of time with her very soon." Teddy wrapped her arm around Arizona's shoulder with a smile. "Has she told you that Henry settled her lease on the apartment above yours? They just sealed the deal today and Arizona can move in anytime."

"You got the apartment? Why didn't you tell me?" Callie squeaked with delight. She put her hand on Arizona's hip without realizing what she was doing. The blonde smiled, opening her mouth wanted to answer but Teddy cut in first.

"Probably because her mouth was busy?"

The remark brought a blush into both women's cheeks. The brunette dropped her hand tried to act nonchalant just made the long hair blonde laughed out harder.

"I'm sorry to break this off but we really need to run." Teddy turned to smile to her boyfriend, who nodded knowingly and headed back to the table to get their belongings. Callie followed him.

"I'm leaving too. I just have to get back my jacket, wait for me?" She asked Arizona while walking away backward to the table.

"You don't have to go..." The blonde said with a frown.

"I'm here for just one mission, there's no other reason for me to stay when it's accomplished." Callie tipped the blonde a wink after whirled around running in full force.

"So..." Teddy's voice brought Arizona out from her dreamy smile. "I take it that you and Callie worked it out, huh? She told you she's not dating Addison?"

"You knew? Why didn't you tell me?" Arizona smacked her friend's shoulder playfully.

"Hey! She got a kiss and I got a slap? Not fair." Teddy nudged the blonde lightly. She was happy to see the grin on her friend's face. "I tried to tell you but you just didn't listen. Like every other time."

"Whatever." Arizona screwed up her lips. Teddy was right, again. "Can you do us a favor? We want to keep this under the radar for a while. Can you keep this to yourself, not to tell anyone yet?"

"You don't have to worry about me, I can keep a secret." Teddy snorted with laughter. "You should make sure Callie can keep her hands to herself, or you need to control your goo-goo eyes towards her."

"Hey! I can control myself." Arizona nudged her friend again, but her face spread to an uncontrollable dimpled smile when her brunette walked towards her. Oh well, this was going to be a challenge.


	5. New year's eve dance party

Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.

A/N : Warning, if you don't like to read unbeta'd story, I am sorry.  
I'm going for a 3 days, 3 cities trip from tomorrow and gonna be on a plane each day. We all know life changes in an instant... (touch wood!) I'm sitting in front of my computer and thinking, yeah, I should just post this chapter even though my beloved beta reader hasn't got back to me yet :-p  
So, just bear with me, okay?

* * *

Chapter 5

"Turn! Turn!" April's high and nasally voice bounced around the hallway. "Up-up-up! Up! Yes! Here we go! Pivot! Pivot! Pivot! Pivot!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Alex shouted out over the couch he was carrying. "You're like a freaking mosquito. Stop it!"

"Dude!" Jackson, who was on the other end of the couch shoved forward, made his colleague tumbled back a few steps and dropped the heavy furniture on the floor with a loud thud. "We're here because of your boss, be nice."

"Dude, you're here because of Sloan." Alex put his hands on his hips, staring at the couch with frustration. Beans of sweat formed on his forehead after a whole morning slaving for his boss, the couch was the last heavy load and he just couldn't get the damn thing pass the corner.

Arizona and Teddy poked their heads out of the apartment after hearing the rumpus from outside. Knowing yet another piece of her possession seemingly being wrecked by as Teddy described as "the capable helpers", the blonde opened her mouth but couldn't make a sound.

Today was the moving date. Arizona wanted to settle in the new home before the new year but none of the professional movers were available during the holiday season. When she complained about this on the lunch table with her colleagues, Mark pointed out that they had enough muscle at work. It was an abuse of power but the residents were so eager to please their attendings after the merger. Just threw them some bones, promising some OR times, the puppies all rolled up their sleeves and came to help without complaining to their faces.

"Come on! You're blocking the way." Cristina walked out of the elevator with Meredith next to her, each of them carrying a small box labeled as clothes. "These boxes are really heavy."

"Oh really? How about I take those boxes and you come get the freaking couch moving?" Alex kicked the side of the couch hardly. Luckily his boss just went back to the apartment and didn't see it. "Why on earth does that tiny woman needs a huge couch like this anyway?"

"Oh my god, I thought you're smarter than you look." Cristina took a look of the situation and sneered loudly. "You just left the side, change the angle..."

"What's happening out there?" Mark poked his head out from the back of the television set, asking the two women just went back to the apartment.

"Our residents are working as a team, trying to solve the world biggest problem - how to move a couch." Teddy laughed out sarcastically, and then went back to her previous task in the kitchen. "Seriously Arizona, you don't cook, how come you have so many cooking utensils?"

"I cook, sometimes." Arizona made a grimace. She stood behind Mark and checking out the job that the man was doing. "Is everything okay, Mark? You've been fumbling with the cables for a while. Please don't fire my home theatre system."

"You have the most complicated system, do you know that? Who still owns a LD player by the way?" The man studied the numerous of plugs on the laps with a deep frown.

"My brother and I have an awesome collection of LDs since we were teenagers. And that player? They don't make it anymore. I had to ask a friend in Japan to find it for me and shipped it out to here." The blonde looked over to the boxes in the corner of the living room with a proud smile. "Maybe I should call the guy. You know, the professional, thingy hooking guy."

Mark turned his head to the back staring up at the blonde incredulously. Finally, he swept the cables off his laps and stood up from the floor.

"I'm not gonna do this but you don't need to call your thingy hooking guy. You know who's good at hooking up these stuffs? Torres. Where is she anyway?" The man asked.

"I don't know. I heard that she was in the night shift. She's probably sleeping." Arizona played with the neckline of her shirt subconsciously.

Callie was indeed at work last night, but she had stolen enough sleep between breaks. She was fully charged and ready to come to help. However, since they were going to keep the blossoming relationship under the radar for the while, Arizona thought it was better for Callie not to show up with everyone around them, especially when the brunette was so excited about her moving in to the building.

"Nonsense, how can she not be here to help? I'm calling her." Mark pulled his phone out from the pocket, looked over the kitchen when a sneer coming from Teddy. He missed the death glare shot to the same direction from the blonde behind him. "Hey Torres? You're not sleeping, are you? Great! Come up here to blondie's apartment, she needs you."

Callie was pacing at her apartment the whole morning. She and Arizona haven't really spent much time together since the Christmas party 5 days ago. Busy workloads, conflicted schedules and unexpected ladies nights had postponed their first real date. Callie was so looking forward to have some time around Arizona, and she didn't understand why she was forbidden to be in there. God bless Mark Sloan, the restless brunette bolt at the door not even before the phone was off.

Running 2 steps at a time, Callie arrived at Arizona's front door within 10 seconds but she was blocked by the couch moving group.

"Jesus, guys! Move the couch!" The brunette couldn't help to yell at the residents. "Hey I'm here, what's wrong? Arizona?"

Everyone stared dumbly at her for a moment, then continued to shove the gigantic furniture through the narrow door. As soon as the group successfully clear from the door, Callie was greeted by a bright dimpled smile.

"Hey." Arizona stepped out and subtly pulled the grinning brunette to the side, away from the eyes inside the apartment. She tagged at the front of the shirt that Callie was wearing, the brunette took the hint and leaned in for a quick peck. It was a really quick kiss and both of them had to settle for it right now.

"I miss you." Callie whispered sincerely. It had been 18 hours since she said goodbye to the blonde at the hospital, she was truly missed her. "Mark said you need me, what's wrong?"

Arizona chuckled. She smiled sweetly wanted to tell Callie that she missed her too, but a shout from the apartment interrupted them.

"Yo Torres, come set up the television so that we can have something to watch." Mark roared from the inside.

Well shaped eyebrows rose up knowingly, Arizona rolled her eyes and leaned her in the apartment.

"Mark, you can't even hook up the TV? How useless are you?" Callie teased her friend as soon as she stepped inside. He was sitting on the couch with Jackson on the other end. And Alex was in the kitchen ransacking the fridge.

"I can hook up a TV, but this woman has a stereo, a DVD player, A VCR, a bunch of speakers and a LD player for god sake." Mark jerked his head toward the apartment owner before accepting a can of beer from Alex. He met with the questioning eyes from the PEDS resident and then pointed to the boxes in the corner. "Ya, your boss has a LD player and a truckload of discs over there."

"Really? I haven't seen those things for ages." The young resident put his beer on the coffee table and ran for the boxes with excitement. He sat down on the floor and started to look into the treasures. "Wow dude, you have a lot of concerts. Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana... Sweet!"

"Rock bands? Seriously?" Callie asked before rolled up her sleeves examining the equipments. Not in a million years would she picture the bright and bubbly woman was a fan of rock music.

"I was young." Arizona shrugged a shoulder, putting the books onto the shelf without looking at anyone.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong of loving rock music. My dad was a guitar player and I listened to these since I can remember." Alex pulled out a LD from the pile and exclaimed. "Queen Live in Budapest! We've got to watch this! Torres, can you plug the things faster?"

"Easy tiger. I just moved in and have a lot of things to do around the place. I don't have time to hold a concert for you." Arizona threw the young man a smile over her shoulder.

"Come on, dude!" Alex whined, but the blonde put her foot down.

"Not today, dude!"

"What? You're just gonna kick us out after all the heavy lifting? You can go on with your unpacking and leave us with the show playing. You won't even know we're here." The man tried again. He looked over to the other 2 men on the couch, who shrugged nonchalantly sipping their beer.

Arizona was trying to come up with a rejoinder, but Callie spoke up before her.

"Guys, I don't think that's possible. A cable is missing."

"A cable is missing?" Arizona stared at the brunette with wide eyes. "I put everything in the box together..."

"One of the three RCA plugs is missing." Callie bobbed an eyebrow behind the television, giving the signal subtly and Arizona got it loud and clear.

"Oh right, I must've put it in one of the other boxes in a hurry. Sorry guys, it's gonna take a while to find it."

Alex groaned and went back to dig in the LD collection with a pout.

"Why are you pouting, Evil Spawn?" Cristina came out of the bedroom with Meredith after they put the boxes of clothes in there. She wouldn't miss the chance to mock her colleague. "More heavy stuffs to move?"

"He wants to watch television but mommy doesn't allow him to." Jackson smirked behind the beer can.

"It's not just television. It's Queen! In LD!" Alex held up the record showing it to his peers. The new comers in the living room looked at each other with a confused frown.

"I'm not disallowed it, but I just don't have time now. Look around, I have so many things to do. Having you guys here just gonna slow me down. I want to finish unpacking still today." Arizona waved her hands around emphasizing her point, and added quickly. "And a cable is missing. The system can't be set up yet. So, not today."

"That's easy." Cristina said flatly. "No today, then we have a new year's eve plus house warming party in here. Then Alex can watch those craps."

"Sounds great!" Everyone cheered to the idea except Arizona and Callie. The two had talked about having a romantic dinner in Callie's favorite French restaurant on New Year's eve as their first date. She had even made the reservation already.

"I can't... I mean... I don't..." The home owner stuttered. If she had known how much these people like to party, she'd just let Alex watch the damn concert right now.

"Oh come on, we helped you moving today. Consider that as a payment for our blood and sweat, fair enough." The Asian looked around the living room, everyone nodded in agreement, especially Alex.

"But- but- I don't cook." The blonde looked over the kitchen, meeting with her best friend's smirk.

"April! April!" Cristina shouted out suddenly. A flash of redhead ran out of the bathroom with a bottle of shampoo in hand. April was in charge of the bathroom and had missed the discussion out there. "We're having a party on New Year's eve. You cook?"

"Great! I can make a turkey, pasta, oh and an ambrosia salad, my family recipe..." April exclaimed cheerily, but Cristina cut her off without missing a beat.

"Just wrap up something simple, we're gonna have a dance party." She held up her hand, Meredith gave her a loud high five in response.

Arizona and Callie stared at each other with their mouth agape.

The group went on with the party planning, against the blonde's will mostly. April in charge of the food, Cristina and Alex were going to bring the booze, and Meredith was going to convince her husband to rearrange the shifts so that everyone could be in the party. Seeing there was no way to stop this madness, Arizona agreed with a heavy sigh, but she had 3 conditions - a simple dinner party, keep it minimal, and help cleaning up afterward.

Everyone left shortly after everything had settled. Some of them went back to the hospital starting their shifts, and some went to enjoy the rest of their day off leaving the blonde to finish her works. Callie, unwillingly, followed Mark back to the apartments downstairs when everybody walked out of the door. Her best friend asked if she wanted to hang out, but she answered that she wanted go back to sleep and then rushed into her home.

Callie kept her ear on the door from the inside for a good 2 minutes before slipped out, closed the door behind very gently and ran for the stairs. Of course she'd go back to Arizona's. Knocked on the door lightly, it opened in a second.

"It took you long enough." The blonde smiled to her guest.

"I have to make sure Mark doesn't know I come back up here." Callie leaned her head on the doorframe, smiling back to the blonde. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you that those people are party animals, they won't pass up a chance to have a party."

"Well, after your birthday, the thanksgiving dinner and the Christmas party, I should have figured." Arizona chuckled, and took Callie's hand to pull her in the apartment. The brunette closed the door with her free hand, not waiting for it to close fully before leaning forward to capture the pink lips for a real kiss.

"What are we going to do for the New Year's eve? Do we really have to cancel the reservation?" Callie asked after their lips parted. Her face twisted with disappointment. "I am really, really, really looking forward to take you out for a date."

"What chance do we have? It was 6 against 1. You and Teddy just stood there watching them made the plans." Arizona sighed heavily. She looped her arms around the taller woman's neck and pressed their forehead together. "I am really, really, really looking forward to go out with you too."

"How about tonight? I think I can still get a table in somewhere nice." Callie put her hands on Arizona's hips. Her hands stroke the slender waist tenderly, twisting the hem of the loose T-shirt that the blonde was wearing. She wanted to feel the soft skin on her fingertips again but Arizona slipped out of her hold before she could touch the naked waist.

"I can't. I want to unpack everything today, and I'm pretty such I'll be exhausted by the end of the day." The blonde said over her shoulder, walking to one of the box that was already opened.

"Let me help. I'm here to help." Callie followed, standing behind the blonde and rested her chin on the crook of the creamy neck, looking into the content of the box. "We can stay in, ordering pizza for dinner."

"You don't mind? You just finished a night shift, don't you want to get some sleep?" Arizona asked softly, melting into Callie's embrace when the strong hands wrapped around her waist from behind in a tight hold.

"I want to get some time with you." Callie nuzzled the soft neck, nipping gently as she talked. "Where can I start? The kitchen? The bathroom? Your bedroom?"

"You want to get into my bedroom already? I don't think we're close enough to let you go through my wardrobe yet." Arizona turned her head toward Callie, giving the woman a flirty smile before once again, slipped out of her hands.

"No? I thought I'll get to see your underwear drawer." The brunette feigned disappointment, made the blonde giggled and stepped forward into Callie's personal space. She inched closer to the pouting lips but without touching them.

"Someday, maybe." She breathed out against the plump lips, but pulled away before the brunette was able to close the distance. "But right now, you would be a big help setting up my study. And I, am going to put my clothes in the drawers."

"Tease." Callie groaned playfully, watching the blonde disappeared into the bedroom before blew her a kiss. She couldn't help to grin like a fool. She was in a few relationships before, but none of them were half as flirty and pleasurable as she was with Arizona. She found herself enjoying every second that she was around this chirpy woman. Maybe dating a woman was not a bad idea.

The two worked separately, but from time to time they found an excuse to go to the others, stealing a kiss or had a harmless banter. Arizona even let her underwear drawer opened purposely, gave Callie a good look of her blue lace bra lying on top of the pile.

Pizza arrived after they finished the last box. Arizona went to take a quick shower washing off the tiredness and Callie stayed in the living room setting up their dinner. She looked into Arizona's movie collection and decided on a romantic comedy that she hadn't seen yet.

"The pizza looks delicious." The freshly washed blonde came out of the bathroom. She planted a soft kiss on the tanned cheek from behind before rounding the couch to sit next to her house guest. She reached into the box to get herself a piece and snuggled up against the curvy body. "You have to give me the phone number of this pizza place."

"Sure." Callie wrapped an arm around Arizona's shoulder pulling her closer. Buried her noise in the blonde hair and inhaled deeply. "You smell good."

"What are we watching?" Arizona asked absently biting in her pizza. They both glanced at the DVD cover on the coffee table. "No reservations?"

"Yup. Although we do have a reservation, just we can't make it." The brunette screwed up her face, staring into the blue eyes sadly.

"You're still upset about that?" Arizona swung the piece of pizza in her hand, held it closer and closer to the pouting lips. Callie took a bite with a big smile. "I kinda like this first date."

"No no, this is not a date. We're just sitting in your living room eating pizza." Plump lips moved quickly swallowing the food before she talked. "Our real first date is going to be romantic, cozy and special. We're going to dine in the finest restaurant with candle light and music. And by the end of the date, I'm going to walk you home and kiss you goodnight on your doorstep."

"We can do that. We're going to have a lot more dates and I want the romantic dinner you just mentioned." Arizona reached out her hand, stroking the caramel color cheek lovingly. "But I love this one we're having now. I like pizza, and I like the girl who brought pizza. What would be cozier than wearing my sweat pant, snuggle up against you and able to do this anytime I want?"

The blonde threw the pizza back to the box, used her free hand pulling the curvy body closer to hers. Their lips met to a tender kiss that made Callie moaned in her mouth. But the kiss turned into giggling in each other's lips when Italian opera coming from the movie.

"And now, we have music. Isn't it perfect?" Arizona pulled away and rested her head on Callie's shoulder, wrapped her arms around the warm body and breathed out contently.

"The guy is singing opera in the kitchen. How goofy is he?" The brunette chuckled when the actor in the movie danced around singing from the top of his lungs.

"I don't really care for him. I like the movie because of Catherine Zeta-Jones." Arizona shrugged carelessly, playing with the hem of Callie's shirt with her fingers.

"You have a thing for brunette, do you?" Callie asked with a smirk, and the blonde answered with a wink.

"Only the hot one, but I think I'll still like you if you dyed your hair blonde."

"Good to know." Callie tightened her arm, enjoying the coziness of having the soft body next to her in the huge comfy couch. They watched the movie with a little commentary from here and there. Half way to the movie, Arizona was getting quiet.

"I bet he is going to sleep with her and then steals the secret recipe of her sauce." Callie sneered at the screen, but got no response from the woman in her arm. She looked down and found Arizona had fallen asleep on her shoulder, with a small smile plastered on the peaceful face.

Callie turned off the movie. She wanted to stay but she knew the blonde must be exhausted from the moving. Settling the unconscious body on the couch, Callie went to the bedroom grabbing a comforter and placed it over the sleeping beauty. After leaving a note on the coffee table, she gave Arizona a tender kiss and then left the apartment quietly.

* * *

"Why do you look like you were sleeping with a cloth hanger in your mouth?" Bailey asked her lunch buddy with a sneer.

"What?" Callie frowned, looking confused.

"You are smiling like a fool the whole morning." The small woman glanced at her colleague before sipping her milkshake. "Something good happened?"

"What?" Callie asked again trying to act as innocent as possible. "Nothing happened. I just had a good night sleep."

The brunette so wanted to tell her friend that the energy of her mega watt smile was coming from a certain blonde hair beauty that just walked into the cafeteria, but she couldn't. She and Arizona had decided to keep this to themselves for now, so she had to bite her lips to stop herself from saying too much.

"Just the two of you? Where are the others?" Arizona asked the two women whilst sitting down at the table, a little closer to Callie, unwittingly.

"Surgeries." Bailey answered, looked between the two women with an eyebrow rose up. "Torres was telling me she had a good night, how about you? How was your night?"

"I had a good night too." The blonde smiled, mostly to Callie.

"Really? What did you..." Bailey was about to get into more details, but someone came close to their table made her stopped, and made her colleague's smiles fell.

"Hi." It was Cheryl. She greeted everyone on the table and then turned to Arizona. "Arizona, can I talk to you?"

"Sure." The blonde blinked a couple times before realized the redhead meant privately. She stood up and followed Cheryl to the side, turning her head back on the way, not surprise to found a burning glare coming from a pair of brown eyes.

"Arizona, I like you." The dermatology fellow said pointedly as soon as they were out of the earshot from anyone. "You know, it is not easy to find someone in our circle, especially when we spend most of our time in the hospital. I know I'm coming a bit strong but I just don't give up easily when there's something I want. Let's cut to the chase. I need to know, are you seeing someone?"

"I- I- Why- why would you say that?" Arizona was stunned by the straight forward question.

"You never call me back." Cheryl chewed the inside of her mouth nervously. "And I saw the way you and Dr. Torres danced together at the Christmas party. Are you dating Torres?"

"We- we..." There was no way she was going to admit it to this woman, at least not before she shared this to her friends. "Torres and I are friends."

"I know it's not my place to say this, but Dr. Torres is not a lesbian. She likes men. She dated another male doctor who was working in here..." The redhead continued, but Arizona cut her off.

"O'Malley, I know that."

"And Dr. Sloan. Someone told me that they were together for a while and they used to spend a lot of times in the on-call rooms, if you know what I mean." Cheryl leaned in closer, saying in a low voice.

"Sloan?" Blue eyes went wide.

"Yes. Everyone knew that." Cheryl nodded her head firmly. "She enjoyed sex with men. Arizona, I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Thank you, Cheryl." Arizona gave the redhead a tight smile. She didn't know what else she could say, or think. She made an excuse about needing to see a patient, walking out of the cafeteria without giving a second glance to the confused brunette who was staring at her the whole time.

The blonde had a couple of simple surgeries in the afternoon. Her phone buzzed from time to time indicated that she had incoming messages. She knew who these were from but she just couldn't bring herself to answer them yet. Standing in front of the surgical board before she headed home, she was glad to see Callie was halfway in a complicated surgery that won't be out soon. She needed some alone time to process it.

Refilled her wine glass the third time over the night, she sighed heavily when a knock coming at the door.

"Arizona?" Callie knocked against impatiently. She was tired and confused and frustrated and mad. She knew that redhead was obsessed with Arizona and she didn't understand why the blonde didn't just shut her off, telling her to take a hike. Unless... "Arizona?"

The door opened, revealing an emotionless pale face from the inside.

"What do you want, Callie?" Arizona asked calmly, her hand holding the edge of the door. Her body language telling Callie that she didn't want the visitor to get into her apartment.

"What do I want? What is happening? Why didn't you answer my texts?" The brunette frowned, her gaze shifted to the back of the blonde head trying to look inside.

"I was busy. I had surgeries." Arizona sighed, avoiding the gaze from the woman standing in front of her.

"And you didn't even have a second in between to text me back?" The Latina's patient was getting thin. She was afraid to ask. "Is she here?"

"Who?" The blonde questioned with her eyes narrowed.

"That woman from dermatology. She is inside your apartment, isn't she?" Callie swallowed hard. Jealousy was written all over her feature, but Arizona was too upset to sense that.

"Cheryl? She's not here." A furrow had formed on Arizona's forehead. She had no idea why Callie would think Cheryl was in here, but she did know that Callie wouldn't leave without talking about what was bothering her. She stepped aside, opened the door wider. "Do you want to come in?"

Of course she did. Callie walked in slowly, secretly taking in the surrounding of the living room, kinda relieved to find there was only one wine glass on the coffee table.

"We were fine last night. We were fine before that woman pulled you aside and whispered in your ear. What had happened, Arizona?" The brunette spun around facing the woman, pleading for an answer with her big brown eyes.

"Nothing happened. We were just talking." Arizona answered with an air of detachment. She turned to the kitchen grabbing an empty glass for her guest. "You want some wine?"

"About was?" Callie asked again. She hated herself of being so pushy, but she couldn't help herself.

"Nothing important..." Arizona walked toward the living room. She took a longer route trying not to get too close to the woman haunting her mind the whole day.

"No, don't lie to me Arizona. You acted so differently after you met her again. Please," Callie took a deep breath trying to calm her nerve. The knot in her stomach was driving her crazy. "Just tell me. Are you having second thought about us? Are you going to choose that woman... Cheryl after all?"

"What? No!" White wine almost spilt all over the floor from the bottle when the blonde heard the question. She composed herself and about to pour the wine into the empty glass, Callie snatched the bottle from her hand.

"Then what? Why are you acting so strange? Please talk to me, just tell me. I don't want you to hide anything from me. If you don't want this, just tell me. I-"

"I am the one hiding something? Are you kidding me?" Arizona put the glass on the coffee table forcefully, cutting off the ramble coming out from the furious plump lips. "You are the one hiding your relationship with Mark Sloan from me. When are you going to tell me that you are seeing Mark Sloan?"

"Who told you I'm seeing Mark?" Callie looked at the flush face with wide eyes.

"It doesn't matter..." The blonde shut her eyes and breathed out slowly. Usually she was calm and in control, she had no idea why the brunette always had a way to make her lost her head.

"It does because it is not true." Callie said firmly.

"So you are telling me you and that man was never a thing?" Blue eyes opened sharply, daring the brunette to lie to her.

"Mark and I was never a thing." Callie stated again. "We slept together a few times but it meant nothing."

"Oh come on!" Arizona felt her heart sank to her stomach. "You two are always together. You two almost live together only separated by 2 doors. He doesn't like me ever since I was in the picture."

"He didn't like you because he thought you broke my heart. Mark is my best friend, he cares for me." Callie swallowed hard. She didn't see what the problem was.

"Don't insult my intelligence, Torres." Couldn't bear standing there having the image of her Callie and the man she had seen every day being naked together, Arizona took back the bottle of wine and striding toward the kitchen. "A man and a woman would never just be friends. He always stares at your boobs. He wanted to get into your pants!"

"Oh, so according to your logic, you're staying close to Cheryl because you want to sleep with her?" The brunette followed, bracing herself against the kitchen counter staring at the back of the blonde when the woman shoved the bottle in the fridge with a loud clink.

"That is different. I have never had anything with Cheryl except going out with her on one date." Arizona spun around instantly, not backing down on this intense staring contest.

"Did you kiss her?" Callie asked sternly.

"What?" The blue eyes stare was distracted for a brief second.

"Did you kiss her?" Callie knew Arizona had heard the question well, but she asked again anyway with her lips pulled to a frown.

"I did, it was-" An answer came out of the pink lips that made the brunette's jaw tightened.

"So it is okay for you to keep a woman that you have kissed hanging around, but me having my best friend close to me is a crime?"

"It's not that. It's- It's-" Arizona stammered. How the hell did the table turned so quickly?

"What, Arizona? I really don't understand why I'm being friend with someone who helped me through the toughest time in my life would be so unforgivable. Yes, I've slept with Mark because I was upset. I thought I wasn't desirable and Mark was there." Sleeping with Mark wasn't the brightest decision in her life, but Callie wasn't going to apologize for gaining a best friend out of it. And how dare would Arizona put on a look of disgust when she didn't know how devastated she was after George cheated on her.

"That is what I'm talking about! You want to have a backup penis nearby!" The pale face scrunched up when the word left her mouth. She was never a fan of it, even the word made her feel nauseated.

"Wha- what?" Despite they were in the middle of a heated argument, Callie couldn't help chuckling to the ridiculous accusation. "He is not my backup penis."

"He is! You said it. You were upset and then Mark was just across the hall and you went for it." Arizona's voice raised an octave higher, and her hands waved around furiously. "How am I gonna think whenever we have a fight or something? Should I worry that you'll just go for your backup penis, because he is there?"

"Mark is not my backup penis! Yes, we did it a several times but it never felt right. And then we decided that we're better off being just friends. I've never slept with him ever since." Callie felt herself getting angrier by the second and she didn't have to stay here for that. Pushed herself off the counter, she turned to leave. "He set me up to have a date with you, remember?"

"He set up the date as a joke to us. He didn't know we'd actually head to somewhere." Arizona rounded the kitchen counter, following the brunette as she shouted out. "And you want us to put whatever between us as a secret because you don't want to lose him!"

"You are the one saying you want to take it slow!" Callie stopped her track and yelled back. "You know what? We are not heading to anywhere. You'll always assume that I want a man no matter how many time I've told you that I don't need a man. I like you and I want to be with you but you'll always throw my bisexuality to my face."

Arizona hitched in her breath. She watched the angry woman opened her front door before she could react.

"And by the way, I don't need a man as my backup penis! I have a battery operated one in my nightstand drawer!" Callie threw the last few words over her shoulder before stormed out of the apartment, leaving the blonde stared at the closed door feeling like a bucket of cold water just poured all over her.

Callie ran down the stairs, trying hard to hold back the tears. She was beyond mad. She was furious. How could Arizona being such a bonehead that didn't know all she wanted was being with her, no one else? She fumbled to unlock the door to her apartment with a shaky hand, and the door opposite to hers opened.

"Hey Callie, glad you're here. I'm going to Joe's for a drink, wanna join me?" Mark asked while putting on his jacket outside his apartment. He frowned when he got no answer, and the brunette was still had her back to him trying to open her door. "Hey Cal, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mark." Finally got the door opened, Callie stepped inside without giving the man another gaze. "Bye Mark."

Closed the door behind her, Callie backed against it and tears started pouring out between her shut eyelids. It was a mistake, she said to herself. If Arizona kept fixated on her liking men, there had no possible way that they would keep going. She didn't know it was Arizona's action or her words hurt her the most. How could a stupid fight like this was able to shatter her heart to thousands pieces even before they started anything serious?

A knock at the door startled her.

"Go away, Mark." Callie roared.

"It's me." It wasn't Mark. "Calliope, can you open the door?"

Brought the front of her shirt up wiping away the tear stain, the brunette opened the door with hesitation.

"I owe you an apology." Arizona stood outside the apartment looking timidly. Took in the swollen eyes and redden nose in front of her, she felt her heart ached and angry at herself for making this woman cried. She held her tongue willing the expressive brown eyes to look at her. It took a painfully long minute for Callie to lift her head, glaring at the sheepish blue eyes.

"You want to give me one, or just giving me a heads up?" The thick and nasal voice came out cold and distant, made the blonde flinched.

"Calliope..." Arizona breathed out heavily.

"Don't! Do not Calliope me." The brunette held up a hand, forced a sarcastic smirk. "If you come here checking whether I go for my backup penis, I'm sorry to disappointed you."

"I didn't mean it, Callie. I was-"

"You were trying to find a way out." Callie interjected before the blonde was able to voice out her explanation. Strong arms crossed over her chest in a defend gesture. "You don't want to be with someone who had had sex with men. You want Cheryl. The tall, skinny, sexy and gorgeous, smooth skin Cheryl. I got it."

"It isn't about Cheryl. It is-" Arizona tried again, but got cut off once again.

"It is me, I know that! I'm not stupid. You don't have to tell me twice."

"You are not stupid but you're hotheaded! Can you let me finish?" Arizona blurt out, made the brunette shock with her mouth agape. "I was jealous, okay?"

"What?" Mouth still hung open, Callie dropped her hands to the side.

"I was jealous of Sloan. Everyone has a past, I know that. Mine isn't glorious either. But I didn't know I'm seeing yours everyday, working with yours everyday." Blue eyes stared at brown sincerely. "It wasn't about the- the penis. It came out harsh and terrible, but it really wasn't about the penis. If your ex was a woman and staying around, I'd be jealous of her too."

"You were... jealous of Mark? Why?" A little smile crept across the full lips. No one had ever admitted of being jealous because of her. Callie felt the butterflies in her stomach had alive again.

"He has seen you naked!" Arizona sighed out frustratingly. "And I hate that from now on whenever I see him looking at you, I don't know he is looking at you or reliving the images in his head."

"Oh Arizona," Callie tilted her head to the side giving the sheepish blonde a sweet smile. "You have nothing to worry about. He had slept with enough women to wash off the image of me in his head."

"Are you crazy? We spent the night together months ago and I can still see you in my mind." The shorter woman stepped closer, taking Callie's hands in hers. "All I can think about is you."

"Really? Not even..." Callie inched her face closer, longing for the inviting pink lips.

"Not even... wait." Arizona pulled back slightly, a mischievous twinkle sparkling in her eyes. "You've been mentioning Cheryl the whole time. Are you... jealous?"

"Maybe." The brunette turned her face away, biting her lips to hide the smile. A pair of soft hands holding her cheeks redirected her gaze to the front.

"You have nothing to worry about." Arizona breathed out, closed the distance between their lips for a sweetest makeup kiss.

Not wanting to say goodbye yet, Callie leaned the blonde in her apartment cuddled comfortably in the couch. She buried her nose in the blonde lock whilst the small frame snuggled up against her.

"Isn't it crazy? We haven't even had our first date, yet we already had our first fight." Arizona nuzzled the soft and warm olive skin above the collarbone with her eyes closed. She couldn't hold her smile feeling the pulse point throbbing under her touch.

"We should have turned down the ladies night 3 nights ago, or just tell them that we have plan, not going to throw them that party tomorrow night." Callie whispered pitifully. She really wanted to spend the New Year eve with just her and Arizona. It had been 6 days since they decided to give it a try. She didn't know how long she would be able to hold her tongue, not telling or showing everyone that she was getting in a relationship with this amazing woman. "Why don't we just tell them that we're seeing each other? I don't want to hide you from our friends."

"Me either, but we work together. And the hospital is really gossipy." There was a falter in Arizona's voice that alerted the brunette. No way to avoid this conversation, the blonde breathed out slowly. "Before I went to Mercy West, I was in John's Hopkins for my residency. I went out with this scrub nurse a couple times but we didn't really clicked, so I ended it after 4 weeks. She ended up cutting my palm with a scalpel in the middle of a surgery. She earned a nickname Scalpel and I became the enemy of every nurse in the hospital. That's why I left Hopkins and moved to Seattle."

"You afraid I'm going to cut you with a scalpel? You know my choice of weapon is the drill, or the bone sew." Callie laughed out loudly, finding the story amusing. But of course the person in the story thought otherwise.

"Be serious, Callie. Everyone in the hospital is your friend. They love you and adore you. If this doesn't work out between us, I'll be losing you and the friends." Arizona sat up straight, shifted in the seat facing the smirking woman despairingly.

"You are being silly for no good reason. First, everyone loves you and adores you too. And they are also your friends. They're the most nonjudgmental crew you've ever seen." Callie shrugged her shoulders causally, hand stroking the thigh next to hers up and down ensuring the blonde. "When Derek and Meredith were fighting, on the verge of separation. Or Mark and Lexie, or Cristina and Owen right now, no one takes side. We just stepped back and betting on how soon they're gonna makeup."

"You guys bet on their fights? That's immoral." Arizona's jaw dropped. She pushed Callie's shoulder friskily made the brunette laughed out even louder.

"That's showing how supportive we are." Callie caught another playful punch with her stronger hand before it landed on her upper arm. Tugged the slender wrist lightly, pulling the giggling woman toward her and Arizona was straddling her laps in a fluent movement. "And about us? Do you think we don't click, like you and Scalpel?"

"Well, we fought and made up in merely half an hour, I think that's a record." The blonde looped her arms around the smirking woman, looking deep into the brown eyes lovingly.

"See? We clicked." Callie gazed back, warmth spread across her chest when the adorable dimpled smile came in view.

They held the gaze for a long while, suddenly the dimple disappeared and replaced by a bitter smile.

"Can we not fight? Like never again?" Creamy hand reached out to caress the caramel cheek tenderly. The blonde was mesmerized by how beautiful it was that their skins came together. "I hate to see you cry, especial if I am the reason that make you cry."

"I hate it too. But think about the makeup sex, rumor has it that it is really hot." Callie smiled mischievously, intended to lighten the mood and the angelic laugh came out from the blonde told her that it worked.

"I bet it is." Remembering something from their event, Arizona asked with an equally mischievously smile. "Hey, you really keep a vibrator in your nightstand?"

"That's all you got from the fight?" Tanned hands were getting restless. They traveled up and down the tights on either side of the brunette, and moving upward to the slim waist slowly. But Arizona's response made them stopped.

"No, I remember vividly that I was being a bitch that made you cry." The blonde buried her face in the crook of Callie's neck shamefully. It wasn't her proudest moment and she knew she needed to make it up to Callie.

"Hey! Don't call the woman I- I'm dating a bitch." The brunette pulled on the elastic band of Arizona's sweat pant, made her yelped when it sprang back on the small of her back. "And we were talking about the thing in my drawer. Go back to the happy place."

"Nope, we were talking about not going to fight again." Arizona sat back straight with a wide grin. She really enjoyed the flirty and funny side of this woman. She couldn't believe she almost blew it.

"How about... we come up with a safe word, whenever anyone of us want to start a fight, it has to stop when the safe word comes up?" Callie suggested.

"A safe word? Like in a sex game?" Eyebrows above the sparkling blue eyes rose up, pink lips curled to a naughty smile.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Robbins." Strong hands sneaked under the shirt of the woman sitting on her laps. Callie held onto the shaking body when the blonde burst into an uncontrollable laughter.

"Not easy when I know there's something in your drawer." Arizona leaned in, breathed out against the brunette's ear made the strong woman shivered. Satisfied with the effect she had on Callie, the blonde sat up straight again. "No fighting?"

"So not original." Callie shook her head. "Penis?"

"Eww!" Even thought their first fight was about this body part, not in a million years that the blonde would call it during their fight. "Pizza? We love pizza."

"Pizza it is!" Callie agreed with a cheer. They sealed the deal with a peck on the lips. The peck turned into a lingering kiss, lips glided against lips. Before they knew it, their tongues were fighting for dominant and hands were everywhere.

Nibbling at the ivory neck, encouraged by the gasps and rapid heartbeat from the blonde, tanned hands kneaded the way upward from the back of the smooth back to the side of the swollen chest, bringing the loosen shirt up along the way. Craving for seeing the skin under her touch, Callie clutched the hem of the shirt and about to pull it over Arizona's head. But her hands were stopped when a pair of shaky hands grasped hers above the shirt.

"We- we need to stop." Arizona panted out. Forehead against forehead, unfocused blue eyes stared into confused brown ones. "We- we should stop."

"What? Why?" Breathed in deeply, the brunette was trying to control her breath and did her best to not showing any disappointment on her face. "Right, we should wait. At least after our first date, or the third."

"No, it's not that." The blonde smiled timidly. She readjusted her shirt before stroking the flush cheek with the back of her hand. "I didn't expect to see you tonight, and I most contently didn't expect this. I'm not wearing my sexy underwear."

"What?" Still looked confused, but a grin slowly found the way to Callie's face.

"I'm wearing a sport bra and unmatched panties." Arizona bit the corner of her bottom lips seductively. "It's not sexy. I want our official first time to be all about sexy, and hot."

All Callie could do was nodded, swallowed hard visible.

* * *

"Dr. Robbins?" High pitch voice came through the intercom. Arizona didn't need to lift her head to see who was calling her.

"What is it, Dr. Kepner?"

"It's almost 4:30pm, I need to get the foods and everything into your apartment before the guests arrived." April asked in her normal chirpy voice. She was excited about the party. But the apartment owner wasn't.

"I'm elbow deep in this boy's chest. I don't have time to care about that." Arizona answered coldly. "And since when does this party have a starting time?"

"Alex and Cristina told everyone to be there at 5pm, we're already late..." Oblivious of the annoyance in the attending's tone, April kept going.

"Then tell everyone to come later." Arizona snapped at the resident. This was an emergency case that came into the ER not long ago, and the patient was suffering a severe trauma that needed the surgeon's full attention.

"But I don't have the guest list..." April's voice was getting shaky, and smaller.

"What do you mean..." The PEDS surgeon frowned under her scrub cap. It shouldn't be difficult to inform the usual crowd that the dinner was gonna be postponed. She took her eyes off the body in front of her to glance at the gallery, not surprise to see the worried furrow on the young resident's face. Everyone in the hospital treated the poor girl like crap. Well yes, she was annoying but she didn't deserve this. Arizona sighed heavily into the mask. "Go find Dr. Altman, she has a set of key to my apartment. Or ask Dr. Torres to get you the key from my purse."

With an even higher pitch of thank you, April bolt at the door to find the ones that would get her into the apartment where the party gonna take place.

"I have to say it is very bold of you, Robbins." Bailey, assisting on the surgery, said to the lead surgeon over the table after watching the exchange.

"What do you mean?" Arizona chance a glance to her friend between repairing the pancreas.

"They always hold this kind of party at Meredith Grey's house. They did it at Yang's apartment once when she was still living with Torres. Torres had her signed a written agreement the next day said that this would never happen again or she'd be kicked out without notice." Bailey shrugged, changing the positing of the suction causally.

"Why? What do you mean this kind of party?" Arizona asked with her eyes widened, but they couldn't continue this conversation as the machine beeping aloud. "Damn! BP's dropping."

It took the team another 3 hours to save the boy. Showered and changed quickly, Arizona was running across the hospital lobby to get home, and she found a familiar figure was in her tail.

"Arizona, you just got out too?" Put on an extra bounce on her feet, Callie rushed to the waiting blonde.

"Yeah, a tough one. Come on, I can't believe I'm late for my own dinner party." Reaching for the hand of Callie's, Arizona clasped them together like the most normal thing to do, pulling the grinning woman running across the street to their apartment building. And of course, they made good use of the lonesome in the elevator.

"Okay, I'm going to change real quick and then I'll come find you." Callie tore her lips away from the sweetest of Arizona's with reluctance and slipped out of the elevator, the cart continued the journey carrying the smiling blonde to her floor.

But the smile fell as soon as the door of the elevator opened. Music was playing loudly in the hallway. A twitch in her stomach telling her that was not a good sign. Rounded the corner, she found the door of her apartment was wide opened and a few people were standing outside with beer in their hand. She might or might not recognize those people from the hospital.

She felt dizzy when she approached her apartment. Looking in from the threshold, there were at least 30 people inside, and more than half were strangers to her. Walking in slowly, she believed her eyes were about to bulge out of her eye sockets.

Her precious LDs were spread around the entertainment unit. The couch got push to the side making room for the make shift dance floor in the middle of the living room. The coffee table had been used for a temporary stage in the middle of the crowd and a few girls were dancing on top of it, including Cristina and Meredith.

A flash of redhead passed by the petrified apartment owner, Arizona grasped April's arm with force that almost knocked down the tray in her hand.

"April, what is happening?" The blonde yelled under the loud music, the seemingly tipsy young resident shouted back cheerfully.

"It's a party!"

"You're already drunk?" Arizona took in the goofy grin in front of her, and the hint of greenish on April's tongue made her furrow went deeper.

"What? No! I just had a bottle of beer. But these jello," April picked up a jello shot from the tray and offered to her attending. "This is really tasty. Cristina made it and she said I'd like it. You know what? I really do!"

Too shock to react, Arizona didn't take the offered treat, and the redhead brought it to her own mouth between giggles.

"April, there is vodka in these things. Stop eating it and get yourself some water. And why are so many people..." Arizona looked around, and she found the person that would be able to answer her question. "Karev!"

Pushed through the crowd toward the kitchen, where had been transferred to the bar, Arizona grabbed her resident's shoulder and turned him around, fire in her eyes that almost bored a hole in his face.

"Here you made it!" Alex exclaimed.

"Of course I made it! This is my apartment! I told you a minimal party! A dinner party! What have you done?" The furious department head poked the resident's chest with her finger, echoing each word.

"Come on, it's a New Year's party! I told a couple of guys, and they told a couple of guys... Isn't it great? Everyone's enjoying this party." Alex rubbed his aching chest with a smirk. He and Cristina knew the blonde might not be thrilled with the idea of having such a huge party, but who wouldn't like a huge party? He reached behind the back and grabbed a bottle of beer from the counter, offering to his boss. "Beer?"

"No, I don't want a beer! I want..." Arizona flung off the bottle and about to scold the man. But Alex turned her around and wrapped an arm over her shoulder, pointing ahead with his bottle holding hand.

"Listen, I need your help. You see the girl over there by the couch? The blonde? That's Kristy from dermatology. I have tried to nail her for weeks. This party is my chance. I invited her over here and she brought a friend. I need you to be my wingwoman." Alex whispered into the blonde's ear.

"What?"

"Normally I'd ask Sloan or Avery, but her friend is playing in your field." The tall man shrugged, took a swig of the beer.

"You're insane!" Arizona pushed the man off of her, but Alex was holding her tight.

"Come on, help me out. You're not seeing anyone anyway, right? It's a win-win situation. I'll do your chart for one week." Dragging Arizona toward his target by the wrist, Alex greeted the two women who had their backs to them. "Hey girls! Kristy, Cheryl, have you met Arizona?"

* * *

"What the hell?" Callie took in a sharp breath through her agape mouth while stepping in Arizona's apartment. She couldn't believe Cristina did it again. Years ago after a crazy dance party at her apartment without informing her in advance, she had Cristina promised not to throw any more over the top party other than at Meredith's house. But here she was, finding at least a quarter of hospital staffs grooving around in Arizona's apartment under the Rock-n'roll coming out from the sound system. And in the center of the crowd, she could see a redhead flinging around uncoordinatedly. Was that April Kepner?

It took her a whole minute to find her blonde who was standing outside her bedroom, scolding at someone with her face reddening.

"What's happening? Are you alright?" Callie strode toward the blonde, glared at the two persons she believed were the interns in the hospital when they passed by with the tails between their legs.

"Am I alright? Am I alright? They turned my apartment to a freaking disco. Have you seen the people out there? And these two were trying to get into my bedroom wanted to do god knows what!" Arizona pointed her angry fingers to the disgraceful couple before they blended into the crowd.

Callie pulled the blonde in her arms to a comforting embrace. She gritted her teeth tight and glared toward the living room.

"The living room is a mess. The kitchen is a mess." Relaxed a little in Callie's perfume, Arizona buried her face in the soft neck. "And please don't get mad. Karev invited Cheryl to here and he tried to make me dance with her."

"He what?" A growl rumbled in Callie's throat made the woman in her arm stiffed.

"I know you don't want me near her, so I sneaked back in my room and those two..." The blonde was so angry that made her voice cracked, murmuring against Callie's flesh. "Those two tried to get..."

"Okay, I'll take care of it." Callie smoothed the golden lock softly before letting go of the distressed woman. She didn't think twice before walked down the hallway and shouted out. "Hey!"

No one could hear her under the music and the chatter. She went over to the stereo and snapped it off. Now she got the attention from the partygoers.

"Hey!" She shouted again, clapped her hands together as she talked. "Party is over. Everyone, leave, now."

She was greeted with boos and hisses.

"Dude! We just got started." Someone yelled from the crowd, and Callie recognized it was coming from one of the interns.

"Spalding, another sound you'll be in scut for a month!" The furious ortho attending stood with her hands on her hips. "Move!"

Dr. Torres was one of the nicest attendings in the hospital, but it didn't mean the underlings would dare to challenge her authority, especially when those brown eyes were burning with anger. Slowly, people started dragging their feet out of the apartment, mumbling under their breaths as they passed by the party pooper.

"Come on, guys!" Cristina whined as she jumped off the coffee table. "Don't go. It's not even midnight yet!"

"You!" Callie directed her anger toward her formal roommate, not care there was still a bunch of strangers around them. "Arizona trusted you with her apartment, and you turned it into a freaking mess. Look around! You don't even know half of these people."

"Dinner party is lame. We don't do lame." The Asian spun around, hoping to coax some supports from her friends. And she pointed at Arizona as the apartment owner stepped out from the hallway standing behind Callie. "This party is awesome. Right, Robbins?"

"No, it's not." The brunette answered sharply. She was in full on protection mode and she didn't bother to check with Arizona. "No one likes to have their home being trashed like this. I told you the last time and you promised not to do this again."

"I promised you not to do this in your apartment, I kept my promise." Cristina shrugged tipsily, turned to her equally tipsy best friend who was trying to hide her smirk. "I kept it away from her home. Didn't I, Mer?"

"Yeah, this is Robbins's apartment and she doesn't even complain about it. Why do you care?" Alex joined in. The question made the brunette bewildered.

"Right, Torres. Who gives you the right to kick her guests out of her apartment? Huh?" Mark in the other side of the living room raised his eyebrows, enjoying the embarrassment showing on his friend's face.

"I have every right to kick anyone out from here. This is the apartment of my..." All eyes were on Callie waiting for her to finish the sentence, but the brunette just froze on the spot. First off, no one knew she and Arizona were dating. And she didn't know how to address Arizona yet. They haven't talked about it.

Looked over her shoulder in horror, Callie was glad to find the blue eyes gazing right back at her with a small smile. A soft hand slipped into her hand was all the affirmation that she needed. Clutching the hand tight, Callie turned back to the room full of people and she announced. "Arizona and I are dating. This party, you guys are upsetting her and I don't want her to be upset. So yeah, I am kicking everyone out of here."

The moment the words left Callie's mouth, to hers and Arizona's surprise, a few of their friends started making catcalls. But there was one person that was squeaked with delight. Both Callie and Arizona stood that dumbfounded, staring at that said person outstretched her palm.

"Dammit Torres, I'd win the bet if you can keep your mouth shut for another day." Mark threw his friend a glare before pulling out money from his wallet.

"What...?" Callie opened her mouth in shock, watching her friends handed over money to Bailey, who accepted that with a wide grin. "You guys bet on us?"

"2 for 2, Torres." Bailey sneered. "I don't understand why these fools would think YOU can hold it over a week. You should see your own face every time you came near Robbins. You were like a smitten kitten that just wanted to crawl into her laps."

"Bailey, I didn't..." A slight blush crept up on the caramel face. She nudged the blonde standing next to her when she found the self-satisfied smirk hanging on the angelic face. However, that face fall a little while seeing Teddy, her best friend, putting money onto Bailey's opened palm.

"Teddy, you too? You know about Callie and me!"

"Yes, but I thought you guys would be able to hold it for a month. And I didn't think Callie would be the one to blurt it out." Teddy rolled her eyes. "I should take that as a sign when everyone bet that unanimously."

"Everyone knows Callie has no filter in her mouth. And she has no control over her action when it comes to the person she loves. You know, she was the one told George that she loved him and George had never..." It seemed Callie wasn't the only one had no filter in her mouth. Tipsy Cristina started to share story and fortunately, she was silent by Meredith's hand before Callie was able to get a bottle to throw to her way.

"Shut up before she stabs you with her tools." One of the twisted sisters whispered to the other loudly, made everyone around them laughed out. Of course, except Callie.

"This isn't funny and don't you think you're off the hook, Cristina Yang." The Ortho attending composed herself and stepped closer to the giggling sisters. Meredith unconsciously took a step backward, leaving Cristina facing the beast alone. "You violated the trust from an attending. Both you and Alex Karev. Start from tomorrow, the two of you are gonna be in the Pit for a week."

Alex jumped up from the couch, and Cristina already complained aloud.

"Hey, you can't do that. You're not my boss. Dr. Altman?" The cardio resident looked at her attending asking for help, but Teddy just held up her hands as if it wasn't her business. She turned to her husband. "Owen?"

The man could just give the wife a helpless smile before took a swig of his beer.

"If I don't see you leaving in the next 2 minutes, prepare yourself in Ortho for 2 weeks. We all know how much you love Ortho." Callie stood up tall in front of the Asian with hands on her hips. And she turned to the other guests in the apartment. "Okay, as much as I love my colleagues, my friends... you all need to leave 'cause Arizona and I are gonna spend the new year's eve together, alone. You guys already ruined our romantic dinner plan and I don't want to see anyone of you for the rest of the evening. And hey, someone take Kepner home. The poor girl is wasted."

"No!" April moaned as Jackson carried her on her foot, trying to lead her to leave. "I'm supposed to stay behind and clean..."

"You've helped enough, Kepner. Go home and get some sleep." Arizona said to the drunken redhead with sympathy while they passed by. And Cristina who was walking behind them snorted with her cheeks tautened.

"Yeah, thanks for nothing."

"Wait, Cristina." Callie called out after hearing that. Her formal roommate stopped and looked back with a cold stare. "What if I say there's a chance that you can get away with the Pit duty?"

"I'll do it." Cristina answered without hesitation. In her mind, there had nothing more terrible than being kept away from the cardio department. At this point, she would do anything to get away with that awful punishment.

"Great! Come back tomorrow at noon. Bring a couple of garbage bags. I want this place back to how it was before you trashed it." The brunette didn't even bother to hide the satisfied smirk on her face watching her friend nodding her head reluctantly. She locked eyes with the apartment owner, who was looking at her with an amused smile.

After the last partygoer passed through the threshold, Arizona closed the door and slowly strode toward the one who saved the night, wearing the brightest, sweetest dimpled smile that Callie had ever seen.

"You kick everyone out." The blonde stepped closer, looped her arms around the taller woman's neck. "And the way you talked to them... it was hot."

"Yeah?" A goofy smile found the way on Callie's face as the sparkling blue eyes gazing into hers. Wrapped her hands around the slim waist and she asked. "You're not mad that I told them about us?"

"Well, apparently they were onto us. To be honest, you were really terrible on hiding it." Arizona tilted her head and a mischievous look crossed her face.

"Sue me for wearing my heart on my sleeves." Callie suddenly tightened her hold tugging the smaller body collided with hers made the blonde gasped. "Are you telling me that you don't like it when I couldn't take my eyes off you?"

"Nope..." Blue eyes shifted to the full lips just inches away. She breathed out. "Never stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?" Callie brought her lips closer, brushing against the soft lips with a smile.

"Like you really, really..." Instead of giving out the answer, Arizona closed the mere distance between them. The moment their lips touched, she tentatively pressed her tongue against the plump lips, silently urged to let her inside.

Callie parted her lips willingly. She angled her head to the side giving a deeper access to the blonde, as her own lips expertly glided back and forth over the delicate pink lips. Her hands roamed across the slender back and pulled their bodies closer as if it was possible.

They could've gone on forever like that until breathe was needed. Forehead against forehead, blue eyes opened slowly savoring the beauty in front of her. Callie hadn't opened her eyes yet, breathing was slightly labored like her own, and the dreamy smile displayed on the face made the blonde's heart fluttered.

"Callie?" Arizona breathed out heavily.

"Hmm...?" Still had her eyes closed, Callie leaned forward wanting to capture the heavenly lips again, but Arizona pulled back slightly.

"Under this outfit I'm wearing," The blonde bit her lip, waiting for the brown eyes to meet hers. "Are something I brought from Victoria's secret."

Something inside Callie snapped. She attacked Arizona's lips with so much passion that made the blonde tumbled a step backward. And Arizona matched her kiss for kiss. Her passion and desired was equal to the woman attached to her face. Tugging the front of the dress Callie had changed for the party, the two fumbled toward the bedroom blindly, knocked down a couple of beer bottles along the way but none of them care about it. Cristina was going to clean it up tomorrow anyway.

By the time Callie was being pushed onto the bed, her black dress was off and landed on maybe the living room or maybe on the floor outside the bedroom or maybe by the bed, she didn't care. All she could focus on was the woman standing by the end of the bed, ivory porcelain skin clinging in a red bra with black lace rim. Propped herself up by the elbows, brown eyes gawking at the sexiest creature alive with her throat moving visibly.

Arizona smiled seductively as her hands moving slowly unbuttoning her jeans. She gave an extra swag to pull the waist down revealing the matching lace panties, her eyes never left Callie's.

"I thought about you when I put these on in the morning. What do you think?" Took a few slow steps toward the bed, the sexy blonde asked softly. Callie bolt up in bed and pulled the blonde closer, her hands ran up and down from between the waistline of the panties to the naked back.

"In my whole life, I have never, ever thought that I would find another woman so sexy." The brunette looked deep into the blue eyes intensely. Her heart was beating faster while feeling the blonde's breath was getting heavier as her hands went. And the usually sky blue eyes had turned a shade darker. "You're breathtaking, Arizona."

These words brought a broad smile on the pale face. Arizona crashed their lips together whilst climbing on Callie's laps, pressed their front together. The brunette couldn't hold back a moan from the back of her throat. Roaming tanned hands shifted to the clasp of the sexy red bra and with a flick of fingers, it was unclasped and off. Arizona bucked her neck when the full lips sipped the way down to her chests. Her hands fumbled to unhook Callie's bra equaling the playfield, and she was delighted to feel the swells in her palms again.

The fire between the two bodies was getting too hot to handle, Callie tore her lips away from the perky peak. Wrapped her hands around the blonde's barely covered bottom, she used her ortho strength to lift up the woman on her laps and flung her onto the bed. Arizona let out a surprise gasp and next she knew, the sultry goddess was crawling up her body leaving wet kisses along the way from her thigh to her lips.

Hovered over the spread naked beauty, hand caressing the soft skin tenderly as it could go, Callie was nervous all in a sudden.

Even though drowning in the haze of lust, Arizona sensed it. She placed a hand on the olive color cheek and brushed the corner of the lips with her thumb.

"We don't have to... you know, if you're not ready."

"I'm ready. And I want you." Callie leaded down nipping the sweet lips of Arizona's one more time. "But I... We were drunk the last time. What if... what if I was terrible and you didn't realize it because you were drunk? I really, really want to make you feel good and I don't..."

Keeping a hand on the nervous face, Arizona took the brunette's by her free hand and moved them downward, passing the waistband of her panties and let Callie felt it herself. They both let out a moan when hot hand met with wet heat.

"You already made me feel good." The blonde pulled Callie down by the nape of her neck and attached their lips together once again. She whimpered softly into the kiss when the searching fingers gently explored her drenching folds.

"God..." Callie whispered involuntary as her fingers slid into the depth of her lover with no resistance. Arizona was sopping wet. She had a flash back of the last time she did it to Arizona but only this time it felt even better. Her action wasn't driven by alcohol or lust. The sensation was multiplied because of the pure adoration she had for this woman. Pressed her forehead against Arizona's, Callie gazed into the dark blue eyes attentively, drinking in the slightly frowning brows, the fluttering nose, the rosy cheeks, the little gasps coming out from the parting lips... She was spellbound by how beautiful Arizona. And she was the one making this beauty wriggling with pleasure. She found herself surprisingly aroused, more turned on than ever.

"Callie..." Arizona tried to remain eye contact but she couldn't help to throw her head back when the fingers between her thighs moved a bit faster and firmer. Her moan turned louder when the fingers alternated with thrusting or dragged out to rub her throbbing clit. It felt so good and she wanted to tell Callie it wasn't terrible. It was terribly good actually but she couldn't. She couldn't let out anything coherent except for moaning Callie's name under her ragged breath.

Callie's breath was getting labored as well. The feeling of the warm and tight and sticky walls around her fingers made her own panties soaking wet. The continuous cry of ecstatic from Arizona enhanced her desire and she wanted more. She wanted to give more.

Arizona groaned when wet kisses showering all over her chests, but grunted the second the hand between her thighs pulled away. Snapped open her eyes and she found the brunette kneed beside her and looped the fingers around either side of the last piece of garment on her body. Pulling it down the long legs slowly, Callie threw it over her shoulder theatrically with a naughty smile as the blonde staring at her intensely.

"Callie..." Arizona asked with uncertainty. Callie hadn't had gone down on her yet and she was not sure the brunette was ready to cross that boundary. Swallowed heavily, she breathed out. "You don't have to..."

Ignoring the questioning gaze from above and pushed the nervousness to the back of her mind, the brunette settled herself between the creamy long legs.

The last time she was up close to another woman's private part was during her gynie rotation back in intern year. That was... clinical. She was excited for getting the chance to learn. Now, she was excited for a whole other reason. Here was the most intimate place of the woman she adored. Callie was mesmerized by the glistening lips presented before her and her mouth watered when the heady scent tickling her nose. Liked on autopilot, she leaned forward placing light kisses around the damp center. So tenderly liked she was kissing a delicate flower.

The blonde let out a long shallow sigh whilst the soft lips caressed her sensitive skin. Her heart throbbed when she caught the brown eyes glancing up at her. The brown eyes that could tell a thousands things and right this moment, there was something deep inside those soulful eyes that triggered a tide of emotion within her. She couldn't look away. Even when Callie was getting confident with her action, nibbling her lips before took a broad lick along her length, their gazes remained locked together.

"God... Callie." Arizona breathed out between her tremble lips when the warm and strong muscle entered her slowly. The lower half of Callie's face was out of sight but she knew the brunette was smiling against her flesh. She smiled back, slid her fingers into the raven hair and moaned again. "It feels good."

Callie moaned into the wet heat. The sweetness on her tongue and the stroke in her hair were like putting fuel in the fire. Her smile went wider when she felt the body shivering under her tongue. The nervousness faded away as excitement took over her mind completely. She was a woman for crying out loud. She knew what she liked and damn right she knew what would made the blonde feel good.

Thrust her tongue in and out a couple more times, Callie dragged it out and started fluttering against the little bundle of nerve. Her assault was getting vigorous as the slim hips bucking out of control. The stronger she stroked, the harder Arizona writhed and cried out, and that made her stroked went even firmer. It was a vicious circle and Callie was enjoying every second of it. Wrapped an arm around the shaking thigh pulling the body harder onto her, Callie placed her free hand on the smooth stomach feeling the muscle contracted under her palm. Knowing Arizona was closed, she attached her lips around the clit starting suckling hard. It tipped the blonde over the edge into a body-trembling, earth-shaking orgasm that made her squeal, out loud.

Couldn't hold the gaze anymore, Arizona threw her head back and arched her back high as the orgasm hit her like a freight train. Holding the strong hand on her stomach whilst spasms went through her body and all she could do was moaning and panting Callie's name. She couldn't remember the last time she came this hard. It wasn't just about the physical contact. It was the person that she was emotionally connected to that intensified her sensations. It was about Callie.

Still clouded with her post-orgasm haze, Arizona tugged at the joint hand pulling the brunette up. Despite she was still out of breath, she hugged the curvy body close to her that smashed their chests together. Slowly gliding on the toned thigh between her tingling center bringing herself down from the high, the blonde grasped the smiling woman by the nape, brought the plump lips to hers for a passionate kiss.

The blonde moaned when she tasted herself on those lips. She wanted to kiss those lips forever but breathing was still a trouble for her. Tore her lips away gasping for air, she smiled to the woman hovering above her languishingly.

"Did you like that?" Callie brushed off the few strands of golden lock that plastered down the pale face, she said smugly. "It sounded like you did."

Arizona rolled her eyes and laughed. She wiped the brunette's drenching chin with her hand playfully.

"I did. I really did." The blonde chuckled lightly when Callie took her hand and placed a tender kiss on her palm. "You are amazing."

"We are amazing. Arizona, I..." Gazing into the blue eyes, feeling their heartbeats against their appressed chests beating as one, their bodies nestling into each other perfectly liked they were the jigsaw puzzle that found the right piece next to the other, Callie took in a sharp breath when the words almost slipped out of her mouth. She liked Arizona. She cared for Arizona. She always wanted to be around the blonde but she didn't realize that she was in love with Arizona. It was too soon. It was insane. And she can't be that crazy, desperate woman that scary the person away. Not again. She bit her tongue before stuttered out awkwardly. "I can't believe those people bet on us."

The outburst took Arizona by surprise. She laughed out heavily when the brunette dropped the face in her shoulder, hiding the adorable flush.

"You were the one told me that this is the way to show the support." The blonde shrugged her shoulder nudging the woman still burying the face in her neck. "I think they've having a pool whether we are going to have sex tonight or not."

"No one will take that bet. It's a lost cause." Callie lifted her head, chuckled along. "I think it was really obvious when I kicked everyone out of here. Don't you think?"

"Well, in that case." Suddenly, Arizona flipped them over. Slipped her thigh between Callie's as her hand roamed around the plump flesh, she breathed out against the parted lips. "We shouldn't disappoint them. Don't you think?"


	6. Early fathers day

Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.

A/N : I am sorry that I've put this story off for so long. You know the reason - the painful S11, the terrible S12 and the absence of Callie in S13 just kill the inspiration. I've put my full attention on my other long ass story trying to end that last month but that bitch has a life of its own... Long story short, I picked up this one today and wrote and wrote... I found that I was smiling. The plan for this story was to have one subject in a chapter but it's 4am in the morning and I'm just half way thought this chapter. I have to stop now because I have to work tomorrow. I know that if I put it down now, I'm not sure when I will finish it. So, here's the first half of the "Early fathers day". Hope you'll like it.

All mistake are mine, sorry. But again, it's 4 in the morning.

* * *

Chapter 6

With her eyes still closed, Arizona stretched her sore body and rolled over, hoping to cuddle up to her girlfriend. But all she found was a cold sheet. The blonde couldn't hold back her disappointed pout. It was Sunday, both her and Callie didn't have to work and they were supposed to stay in bed for a lazy morning.

Walking out of the room after put on a tank top and shorts, she found her girlfriend was sitting on the couch with the mobile phone next to her ear. Oh right, Sunday morning call with papa Torres.

Didn't want to intrude the private call, Arizona walked toward the kitchen after threw a knowing smile to her girlfriend. It was not a big apartment after all, she didn't mean to but still, she could hear the one-sided conversation while fixing herself a cup of Joe.

"No daddy, I can't... Yes, I'm an attending, that's why I can't. I have been an attending for just a few months. I can't just..." Callie rolled her eyes. She loved her father, but sometimes the request from the man was just unreasonable.

"I know it's Valentine's weekend... Daddy, it's not a legit holiday, I can't tell the chief that I need the weekend off to go back to Miami, because my father wants to have a Valentine's day dinner with me." The brunette made a grimace while she locked eyes with the woman who was sipping coffee in her kitchen. From the amused look on the fair face, Callie knew the blonde must have known what this conversation was about.

"No I won't be alone, I have..." Too busy making face to her girlfriend, Callie almost let the little secret slipping out of her lips. She quickly adjusted. "I have works. I'll be in a hospital full of people, I won't be alone."

Callie knew she must be in trouble because the perky smiley face clouded in a split second, and the hum on the other end of the phone telling her that her smart father must have picked up something from her hesitation.

"Yes daddy, I am seeing someone." _Of course_. Callie rolled her eyes again, but she didn't dare to look into the direction of the kitchen yet. "Umm... this someone is working in the hospital. A surgeon."

"Gentleman suitor? Dad, it's not the 50's..." The brunette laughed out awkwardly. She needed to stop this conversation before it went out of hand. "I will tell you more about this person that I'm dating, but I really have to go now. Say hi to mom for me, okay? I love you dad, bye."

Callie gave a sheepish smile to her girlfriend after threw the phone on the couch. Seeing that as a signal, the blonde walked into living room with her cup of coffee in hand. Instead of sitting next to the brunette, she straddled her girlfriend's laps with a loving smile.

"Someone asked you out for a Valentine's dinner, huh?"

"Yeah, he is clingy." Callie played along. She took the offered coffee and sipped at the cup, saying airily. "It was hard to turn him down through. You know, I love him."

"I figured." Arizona nodded. She put her hands around the brunette's neck asking with a smirk on her face. "Why did you turn him down then? I know you don't have to work this weekend."

"I don't have to work, but I'm hoping to spend this lovely weekend with someone hotter, and sexier..." Tan hand was stroking up and down the silklike pale thigh seductively, but the movement stopped to a halt when the blonde raised another question.

"Does this someone have a pronoun?"

"What?" Callie forced a chuckle awkwardly. She thought the blonde would let it slide, but apparently, nope.

"This someone, this person that you're seeing. The surgeon that you couldn't tell your father about, has a pronoun?" Arizona asked again, the playful smile replaced by a serious stare.

"Honey..." The brunette sighed, putting the coffee cup on the table next to the couch, buying herself time to come up with a good response.

"Yeah?" The blonde didn't let up a bit. She just kept her eyes on the brown ones waiting for an answer.

"Of course I want to tell my dad about you, Arizona." Callie pulled up an adorable pout and resting her hands on the slender hips. "It might not seem like a big deal to you, but in my Catholic family, where we come from being gay isn't something people just come to accept. My dad hasn't spoken to his cousin for decades because he decided to bring his _flatmate_ to the family gathering."

"So you're going to keep me as your dirty little secret in order to please your father? Good to know." The sparkle lost in the blue eyes. Arizona was just want to tease her girlfriend for the vague conversation with her father. She wasn't prepared for the truth behind that action. She was about to get off of Callie's laps, but the hands on her quickly looped around her waist keeping her from getting away.

"I will never hide you from anyone, Arizona." Callie said hurriedly, wholeheartedly. "You're my girlfriend. It just... I can't just blurt it out on the phone to my dad, okay? I promise you, I'll tell him next time when I see him face to face."

"What about he hasn't spoken to your uncle for a decade? Don't you worry that he doesn't accept it and stop talking to you?" The blonde dropped her head, murmuring under her breath. Callie put her fingers under Arizona's chin bringing the uncertain blue eyes to meet with hers.

"I am his daughter. He's supposed to love me no matter what. If he couldn't accept the fact that you, my girlfriend, are making me happier than ever? I'll stop talking to him." The brunette said with nothing but sincere in her voice. She knew it would be a shocker for her father to know that she was dating a woman. But she truly believed that once he met with Arizona, getting to know this amazing, caring woman, he would be happy for her.

"Really? You'd do that for me?" A dimpled smile found the way to Arizona's face again.

"Anything to bring that smile back on your face." Callie said in a whisper while pressing her lips against the pink one. They locked in a tender, loving kiss. The brunette couldn't hold back a moan feeling fingers running through her hair. Nibbling at the bottom lip, the brunette was about to slip her tongue between the parted lips. To her disappointment, Arizona pulled back breaking the kiss.

"So you were saying you want to spend the Valentine weekend with someone hot and sexy?" The blonde recalled the conversation before the unpleasant turn.

"Oh yes, that." Callie licked her lips, savoring the sweet taste of her girlfriend that still lingering on them. "I want to take you out dinner, but I'm covering the pit. You know there has no guarantee that when I can leave."

"We can stay in. I'll order pizza and wait for you at my apartment." Arizona offered with a little purse of lips. It didn't sound romantic but she knew it was the price to pay as a surgeon who saved lives.

"And then, the real celebration of our first Valentine's day together starts on Saturday. I've made a reservation in that little B&amp;B 2 hours away. My shift on Monday doesn't start until the afternoon. If you can move around your surgeries, we can drive back in the morning. We'll have 2 whole days, just you and me, no pagers, beautiful view outside the window." Callie went on with her plan, and her hands sneaked under her girlfriend's tank top, kneading their way up from the waist. "Even more beautiful view in the room with you lying in front of the fireplace, naked..."

"Sounds wonderful." Arizona threw her head back, smiling at the idea of their romantic getaway, and the maneuver on her flesh.

"Yeah?" Callie pulled the blonde's body closer to her, kissing the exposed neck as one of her hand caressing the plump mound gently. "How about a little preview of what I'm going to do to you in this wonderful weekend?"

* * *

"I hate you." Mark walked up to Callie as the Ortho surgeon was waiting for her coffee in front of the coffee cart. He turned to the barista. "Bone dry cappuccino, put it in her tap."

"What have I done?" The brunette made a grimace. She couldn't recall doing anything that made her friend mad at her.

"You should have told me about that stupid B&amp;B sooner. I tried to make a reservation this morning, it is already fully booked." The man huffed with annoyance. He wasn't good at doing romantic thing and he thought he would just copy Callie's idea, but he was too late.

"It's Valentine weekend, of course it's fully booked. I made my reservation 2 weeks days ago, Mark." Callie rolled her eyes. "Besides, I don't want you in the same place with Arizona and I. We are supposed to have the weekend with just us."

"Anyway, you owe me." Mark said with a pout, it made the brunette rolled her eyes again.

"I owe you nothing. You are a grown man. You should be able to find something to do with your girlfriend." Callie cast the tall man a sidelong glance while picking up her coffee.

"Hey, without me, you don't even get a girlfriend on this Valentine's day." Mark put a hand on his hip and looking around. "Where is blondie? I bet she'd agree with me."

"No, she wouldn't." The brunette laughed out. Knowing Arizona, she'd say Mark's problem wasn't their problem. "Arizona got call in early this morning. I think she has a consult or something."

"Seriously, Callie. You need to help me. I know Lexie doesn't expect anything from me, but you and blondie are planning a getaway, Derek and Hunt are going to take their wives for a double date." The man got in the elevator with his friend after getting his coffee. "I have to do something for Lexie."

"I am going to meet with a patient now but then I'll be free for the most of the morning. I'll come find you and let's brainstorm together." Callie sighed dramatically. Of course she'd help the man, with or without the emotional blackmail.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Mark planted 3 big kisses on the caramel cheek loudly, made everyone in the elevator turned and stare at them.

"Eww... get away from me." Callie pushed the man away playfully. She wiped her face with a hand, calling over her shoulder as walking out of the metal carrier. "Arizona and Lexie are going to kill you if you ever put your lips on me again."

Callie stopped at the nurse station, one of the nurses handing her a chart of the patient that she was about to meet. She frowned slightly when the nurse looking at her with a weird expression. She wiped her face again thinking maybe Mark's drool was still on her cheek. Her frown turned to a broad smile when a familiar scent invaded her nostril.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" The brunette turned away to her girlfriend, but the blonde took a significant step back before Callie got closer to her personal space.

"Callie, I..." Arizona wetted her lips nervously. She looked back at the room behind her. "We need to talk."

"Oh my god, you're breaking up with me." Callie gasped with her brown eyes widened. This was the typical phrase when someone was about to dump someone. "2 days before Valentine's day? This is just..."

"Ssshhh... can you keep it down? I'm not breaking up with you, Callie." Once again, the blonde looked back at the room before she pulled her girlfriend round the corner by the elbow.

"What is it then? Why are you acting so weird?" Callie asked impatiently. The blonde was fine last night, and this morning before she rushed out of the apartment. But now, she was all nervous and restless that just made the brunette kinda uneasy.

"Well, my mom called me this morning." Arizona twisted her lips. "After my father admitted to the hospital."

"Is he alright? Which hospital? Do you have to go there now?" A series of questions fired out from the plump lips in a spit second. Callie knew Arizona's parents were living in Boston, she was already running her mind thinking if she could cancel her surgeries and go to Boston with her girlfriend.

"This hospital, Calle! My father is in there!" Arizona pointed toward the room that she kept looking at. "They have arranged to have a surgery in here without even giving me a heads up."

"He's..." The brunette looked at the chart still in her hand, a realization creeping up onto her face. "Daniel Robbins, he is your father?"

"You knew and didn't tell me?" The blonde exclaimed. Callie quickly put a hand on her arm trying to claim her down.

"How should I know? You're not the only Robbins."

"It's just... ugh." Arizona groaned into her hands.

"Don't worry. It's a simple hip replacement. He's gonna be fine." The brunette said with a smile. She understood that Arizona was worried about her father, but as a surgeon, the blonde should know the successful rate of hip replacement was high, especially in her hands.

"I know, it's just... it's going to be so complicated." Arizona ran her long blonde hair with both hands and sighed heavily.

"You don't want me to operate on your father?" Looking at the distressed face, Callie asked. "I can pass it to Carlson if you want."

"They come here because their doctors mentioned you by name. They want your new, minimally invasive hip replacement." Arizona asked hopefully. "Does Carlson know your technique?"

"No, he doesn't." Callie made a grimace. "I'm the only surgeon who does that in the northwest."

"Damn your genius." The blonde groaned under her breath, hands on her hips looking frustrated.

"It's no big deal, okay? I know it's gonna be weird to have your girlfriend operating on your father..." The Ortho surgeon stepped closer, taking the soft hands in hers. "That's nothing to worry about."

"Here's the thing, Callie." Arizona took a deep breath, looking down at their joint hands. "They... um... my parents don't know I'm dating someone."

"They don't know? I thought you talk to your mother on the phone couple times a week." Callie's voice was an octave higher.

"Yeah, but apparently we don't really tell each other everything." Arizona rolled her eyes, referring to her parents' surprise visit.

"And are you going to tell them now?" Callie asked. But according to the odd behavior coming from Arizona, she had a feeling that she was not going to like the answer.

"Well..." The blonde trailed off, still avoiding the intense brown eyes.

"Oh my god!" The brunette's jaw dropped to the floor. "The other day you were mad that I haven't told my father about you. You actually are going to hide me from your parents?"

"I'm not hiding you, just..." The poor woman stole a glance to her girlfriend before dropping her head. "You don't understand."

"No, I don't. You told me that they were supportive when you came out to them, why can't you tell them that you have a girlfriend, me?" This time it was Callie who put her hands on her hips.

"Remember I told you about Scalpel? The nurse who cut my palm in the middle of a surgery?" Arizona rubbed her no longer visible scar nervously.

"Yeah?" The brunette nodded.

"I made a mistake. After that, I took a week off and I went home to my parents. Of course I told them what had happened when they saw my hand." The blonde twisted her lips, remembering that not so pleasant week at her parents' home. "My father was furious at me for... well... getting messy in my workplace and got myself into trouble."

"You deserved it." Still feeling hurt and angry, Callie gave her girlfriend a contemptuous little laugh.

"Callie, please don't." Arizona pled with a pout. "Anyway, I have promised him that I'd keep my personal life and my professional life apart. If he knows that I get involve with a colleague just a few months after started working it here..."

"Half of the people in the hospital know that you and I are involved, Arizona." Callie cut her off. "How are you going to hide it from them?"

"It's not like they're going to wander around in the hospital asking people about me. But with you in the room with them..." The restless blonde started pacing back and forth, and Callie just stared at her with arms cross against her chest.

"I can not believe it. A proud and confident woman that you are, are afraid to tell your father that you're dating a colleague."

"You don't know my dad. He can be really scary." Arizona rubbed her temples with a hand. "And I hate to disappoint him."

"Dating me is going to disappoint him?" Brown eyes almost bulged out of their eye sockets.

"No no, Callie. He is going to love you. My mom too." Arizona answered quickly. "Just I don't think it'll go well under this circumstance."

"Then what do you purpose?" Callie threw her arms in the air. Her patient was running thin. "I can't stand here watching you pacing around all day. I need to go in there examining your father at some point."

"How about..." Arizona swallowed hard looking at her girlfriend. "I'm not saying that we're gonna keep this from them forever, just... don't mention it when you're with them?"

"So, you want me to get into that room, pretending that I don't know you?" The Ortho surgeon said mockingly.

"Of course we know each other. We work in the same place." The blonde wasn't pleased with the passive aggressive tone coming from her girlfriend but she didn't have teh leverage to complain about that now. "Just keep our relationship from them while my dad is on the hospital bed have you as his doctor. Please Callie, can you do this for me?"

"Fine." The brunette said through gritted teeth while turning toward the room. "But I'm not gonna lie if they ask me."

Despite her angry toward the blonde, Callie was nervous when she stepped foot into the room meeting her girlfriend's parents the first time. Taking a deep breath, she entered the room with an overly broad smile on her face.

"Mr. Robbins," She looked down at her chart before addressing the patient, pretending that she didn't remember the name of the man on the bed. "I am Dr. Torres."

"Colonel," The man sat up on the bed with his back straightened. In a patient gown or not, he was a military man. He'd show no vulnerability to a stranger, even though this stranger was going to cut him open. "Colonel Robbins."

"Daniel." The lady sat by the bed grunting under her breath, reaching up to rearrange the pillows behind The Colonel's back. She turned to the doctor with a dimpled smile that just liked Arizona's. "Don't mind him. He's just being grumpy and nervous about the surgery. I'm his wife by the way."

"I'm not grumpy or nervous." The Colonel glared at his wife. And his wife, who knew him so well, just chuckled and waved him off.

"Mr... Uh... Colonel, and Mrs. Robbins, there's nothing to worry about." Callie cleared her throat. "Every surgery has its risk, but the procedure that I'm gonna use could avoid damaging the hip muscle. With the computer guidance, the time of the surgery is just half of the regular hip replacement surgery."

"Call me Barbara, honey." The wife of the patient shifted closer to the doctor and took a hand in hers. "We've heard about the surgery from our doctors. I know you'd take good care of my husband."

Arizona was about to get in the room and she gasped audibly seeing her mother was holding her girlfriend's hand with a warm smile. Everyone in the room turned to look at her.

"Dr. Robbins," Callie took her hand back and fixed the stunned woman a stern stare. She spoke up before the blonde blew the cover. "What do I owe this pleasure for you to my Ortho floor?"

"I..." The PEDS surgeon stammered. She had prepared herself outside the room. She was going to enter the room as nonchalant as she could, but seeing her mother all smiling and holding her girlfriend's hand, she had no idea what just happened between them.

"Arizona didn't tell you? We're her parents." Barbara pulled her daughter to her side, pressing their faces together. "Couldn't you tell? People say we have the same smile."

"I don't see Dr. Robbins smiling that much." Callie patted her own back mentally for being able to lie through her teeth. Arizona's smile was what mesmerized her in the first place. "We're not that close."

"Yeah, we... we're not... I mean, we don't really..." Even though it was her idea, hearing Callie said they're not close brought a pang of hurt in her chest. A glance to her father on the bed, Arizona remembered why they were standing there. "I just started to work in here, mom."

"It has been what... 4 or 5 months?" The mother brought a hand to brush a strand of blonde hair behind her daughter's ear, cooing softly. "Didn't you make some friends already?"

"This is not a kindergarten." The blonde rolled her eyes. No matter how old she got, her mother always treated her like a baby girl. A dry cough from the bed caught her attention, Arizona could see the look of disapproval from her father. Yeah, she was busted for the eye rolling. "Sorry, mom."

Callie had to bite the inside of her month to suppress the smile.

"I know this is not a kindergarten but you're here alone in Seattle. You need to make some friends, Arizona." Barbara went on as if she didn't see the interaction just happened between the father and daughter. She was so used to it. Squinting at the Ortho surgeon's lab coat, the older Robbins woman read the name on it. "I'm sure Calliope would be an awesome friend. You two should get together sometime. Go for a drink or something."

"Mom." It took all the will power within the blonde not to stamp her feet. From the corner of her eyes, she could see her girlfriend was trying very hard to hide her smile of amusement. "Don't call her Calliope... It's _Dr. Torres_."

"Callie is fine." The brunette took a deep breath to collect herself. It was fun to see her girlfriend being embarrassed by her mother, but she couldn't stay there forever. "I'll send an intern to take you for an updated scan, Colonel. And very nice to see you, Mrs. Robbins."

Picking up the chart, the Ortho surgeon put on a professional smile as she walked passed her colleague toward the door. "See you around, _Dr. Robbins_."

"What was that about, mom?" Arizona asked as soon as Callie walked around the corner. She knew her mother was friendly but that was... kinda over the top.

"Callie is going to operate on your father. It wouldn't hurt to be nice to her." Barbara sat back on the chair next to her husband, smiling lovingly to her daughter. "Don't you think she'd put extra attention in the surgery knowing that's the father of her friend on the table?"

"Cal... Dr. Torres is professional. You don't have to push us together to get her doing her job in the OR." The blonde pulled a chair to sit next to her mother.

"I just think you need some friends, Arizona." The mother shifted in the seat to face her daughter. She asked with a hint of worry in her voice. "When was the last time you go on a date?"

"I..." Last night, Arizona said in her head. But she couldn't tell her parents. "I'm busy."

"Yeah, I am aware of that. Every time we talked on the phone, you just talked about your work." The mother nodded her head matter-of-factly. "Callie seems like a nice girl."

"Barbara." The Colonel shook his head, and his wife returned with an innocent gaze.

"What? Don't you think Callie is nice?" She turned back to her daughter. "I think she is beautiful."

"You're acting like you're trying to sell our daughter to the first woman you've seen around her." The man picked up the newspaper and his glasses. He had no interest of the conversation between the women. "You don't even know if she's into women."

"Do you know?" Ignoring her husband, Barbara continued asking her daughter. "I mean, you have radar or something, right?"

"I don't have radar, or something, mom." The blonde couldn't hold back her chuckle. She didn't need one. She knew very well that Callie was into women, or into one woman particularly. "Can we talk about something else? Like tell me again why don't you tell me that dad needs surgery?"

"It's just a hip replacement, not a major surgery like an open heart operation." The Colonel answered without taking his eyes off the newspaper.

"Hip replacement _is_ a major surgery, dad. You will be under the table and being cut open." Arizona stared at her father incredulously. A surgery is still a surgery. How could the man think it's not important enough to inform his daughter?

"I know. And I've done my research. That's why I'm here now." The Colonel gazed at her daughter with a sharp, penetrating look over the newspaper. "I'm not an old fogey that can't arrange my own surgery."

Arizona dropped her head and took a long deep breath. The tension in the room was so thick that could almost cut it with a knife, Barbara looked between the two most important people in her life and didn't know what to say.

"I should get back to work." Finally, the blonde arose from the chair. Trying hard to keep her tear at bay, she gave her mother a force smile. "I'll come back later. Maybe I'll take you to the cafeteria for lunch, okay?"

Before her mother was able to answer, Arizona turned her heels leaving the room.

* * *

As promised, Arizona picked up her mother a few hours later. The Colonel couldn't eat anything because his surgery was scheduled in the afternoon, it didn't mean his wife should starve with him.

"Honey, you know your dad didn't mean it." Seeing her daughter lapsed into a sullen silence, Barbara couldn't hold her tongue any longer.

"Mom..." Arizona closed her eyes and breathed out. She really didn't want to talk about that.

"He loves you, Arizona. He's just..." The mother wetted her lips. She couldn't find the word.

"He's just stubborn." The blonde poked at the salad before her with a pout on her face. "I've apologized and apologized to him. What else I can do?"

"You called him and his friends old fogeys, at his son's wake, Arizona." Barbara looked at her daughter with sadness in her eyes. It was a dark day of their family, and the outburst of the blonde just made it even worse.

"I hadn't eaten in 2 days, mom. I drank my weight in single malt scotch with them. And I had to sit there hearing them saying what a great honor it was to sacrifice for our country." The fair face screwed up in disgust. She could still remember the Colonel and his old army buddies in their formal uniforms, rising their glasses as if it was a supreme glory to die in a war that shouldn't be started in the first place.

"They said that to make the pain... bearable." The older woman sighed.

"I know. I know that dad was in pain. I know that you were in pain. I was in pain too. I've lost my brother, my best friend. For a country that women are still paying less than men. For a country that marriage equality is still a battle." Arizona inhaled and exhaled slowly trying to calm her rage. She was still mad, but she knew that she shouldn't take this out on her mother. "I just think... the price is too high to pay."

"He knows that, he just doesn't want to admit it." Barbara put her hand over her daughter's. "He's a Marine for most of his life. Something wouldn't be changed so easily."

"Yeah." The blonde smiled bitterly. Of course she knew her father. "I just... I won't let my children joining the army, I'm telling you. It's not worth it."

"Your children?" Aged blue eyes widened. Mom ears picked up the most sensitive word. "Arizona?"

"I..." Wow, where did that come from? Arizona didn't even realize what just came out of her mouth. "I... mean, if I ever have children."

"You've never talked about children, ever." Sadness quickly replaced by a warm smile. Barbara asked eagerly. "Why...? Are you seeing someone? Are you thinking of having kids someday?"

"Mom, I'm just saying." It was nice to pivot the conversation to another direction, but Arizona wasn't sure this was the direction that she wanted to go. It was just a slip of tongue. She had never wanted to have children. And she didn't know the woman that she was dating want children or not. Unconsciously, she looked over to the other side of the cafeteria.

"Isn't that Callie?" The mother craned her neck to get a better view of what her daughter was looking. She was happy to see a familiar face. "And who's the man sitting next to her? Is that her boyfriend? They seem cozy together."

"No, that is Mark... Dr. Sloan. They're not together. Dr. Sloan has a girlfriend." The blonde corrected her mother quickly. Even... yeah, the two friends seemed quite cozy together.

"That's blondie's mother?" Mark jerked his head to where Arizona and her mother were sitting.

"Yeah." Callie followed the man's line of sight, and she locked eyes with her girlfriend. The pair shared a smile across the cafeteria.

"And blondie told you to keep this a secret? About you two?" Mark laughed out after got a nod from his friend. "I thought she's out and proud."

"She is. She just doesn't want her parents to know that she's dating a co-worker." The brunette sighed into her soda. "A long and stupid story."

"But you have met her parents, right?" The Plastic surgeon looked back to the Robbins' table, and he smiled to the old lady that was staring at him.

"Of course I have. I'm going to operate on her father this afternoon." The brunette said while putting a forkful of salad into her mouth. She had no appetite but she couldn't operate on her girlfriend's father with an empty stomach.

"Isn't it weird?" Mark snickered before taking a bite of his apple. "I mean, you're going to touch her father's hip."

"Eww... gross, Mark!" Callie slapped the man's shoulder made the man yelped in pain. "I was going to let you have my reservation. Now you can forget about it."

"Wait wait wait." Mark said with a mouthful of apple. He swallowed quickly and asked his friend. "You're giving me your reservation in that B&amp;B? Why?"

"Arizona's father is gonna stay for another 3 days after the surgery. I don't think she'd want to leave them here alone." The brunette's gaze drifted back to the other side of the cafeteria. The mother and daughter were in a deep conversation and she was wondering what they were talking about?

She was startled when Mark pulled her closer by the shoulder and planted a loud kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you, Callie." The beaming smile on the man's face would make you think he just won a lottery. "I love you!"

Callie just glared at her friend and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. She was about to scold the man for kissing her again, someone stood there in front of their table.

"Calliope."

"Daddy?" Brown eyes widened as big as they could go. Why was her father in here? She stood up from the chair when the old man opened his arms expecting a welcome hug. Wrapping her arms around her father's neck, Callie asked. "Where are you here?"

"There's a meeting in The Archfield Hotel this afternoon. It was not on my schedule but hey, I could take the chance to visit my daughter. So I told the staffers that I want to sit it." Carlos pulled away and looked at his daughter with a wide smile. "And I've set up a meeting with your chief tomorrow."

"Why?" Callie stared at her father in confusion. Why did her father want to meet with Derek?

"I'll tell you later. But first, let me say hi to your friend." The father let go of his daughter and turned his attention to the man sitting at the table. "You are Mark, right?"

"Yes sir, we've met the last time you came visit." Mark stood up from the chair and shook the offered hand. He was a little shock by the intensity coming from papa Torres's blue eyes and the firmer that usual hand grip.

"It was six months ago, I recalled." Carlos nodded his head, still holding the Plastic surgeon's million dollars hand. "Were you dating my daughter at that time already?"

"Oh god! No, dad!" Quickly put a hand over the joint hands, Callie forced her father to let go. "Mark is just a friend."

"So you're not dating him? But he just said he loves you." The old man frowned.

"As a friend. I did him a favor and he was just thanking me, daddy." The brunette rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "A favor for him _and_ his girlfriend."

"Yeah? Then where is the man that you're dating now?" Carlos looked around the cafeteria, hoping to get a glimpse of the one who captured his daughter's heart.

"The man that you're dating, huh!" Mark sneered out loud. This would be fun.

"Don't you have to leave, Mark?" Callie threw a stern stare to the snickering man. She loved Mark, but if he was going to out her in the middle of the cafeteria, she'd have no problem of killing him right there.

"Yeah right, I have to go." Still smiling from ear to ear, the Plastic surgeon nodded to the father of his best friend. "Very, very nice to see you again, Mr. Torres."

The father and daughter sat down on the table as Mark strode away. But the man made a stop before he left the cafeteria.

"Hi, you must be Mrs. Robbins." Walking toward to the Robbins' table, Mark reached out his hand to the older Robbins. "Mark Sloan. I'm Arizona's colleague."

"Nice to see you, Mark. Call me Barbara." Mama Robbins shook the man's hand with a smile. It was always nice to meet with her daughter's friend, even if just the work friend.

"I didn't know it is bring-your-parents-to-work day." The man pulled up the most mischievous smile looking between the women at the table. "If I've known, I'd bring my father."

"What are you talking about?" Arizona squinted at the man questionably. "And who is that man with Callie?"

"Oh, you didn't know? That is Callie's father." Mark turned to the Torres' table. "Apparently, he's expecting to meet with the lucky one that is dating his daughter."

"Callie's dating someone?" Barbara asked.

"Oh yeah. Quite seriously." The tall man's smile went wider seeing the color drained from his colleague's face. This truly was gonna be fun. He said to mama Robbins before he turned to leave. "This is very, very nice to meet you today, Barbara."


End file.
